Reset
by StarN0mad
Summary: We all know that Frisk eventually kills Sans in the end. But what would happen if Frisk didn't?
1. 516

516

Five hundred and sixteen times. Five hundred and sixteen times the kid kept coming, over and over with no stop. It was tiring sure, but the thought of what needed to be done fueled Sans' attempts to kill Frisk. Over and over, the Judgement Hall would be ravished by attack after attack, sharp bones suddenly jutting up from the floor creating long jagged cracks in the tile, or a stray Gaster Blaster beam that just happened to miss the kid would keep going and hit one of the thick pillars causing huge chunks of the expertly carved marble to come crumbling to the floor as if it were nothing.

" _what? you think i'm just going to stand there and take it?"_

The annoying factor of it was that Frisk seemed to learn Sans' movements from each battle, honing their memory and seeming to know exactly would he'd do next by the time battle number one hundred sixty two rolled around. This meant that they'd go several runs in a row without taking a single hit- that was until Sans managed to strike them and kill them instantly with one blow. But holy shit, had the little murderer come close. Extremely close. Too close for comfort. Every time this happened, he would always thank how his attacks caused karmic retribution. And Sans would only have a few moments to recover before everything seemed to glitch around him and he suddenly found himself on the far side of the hall again, the golden bathed room looking as if a destructive battle hadn't just taken place beforehand. And Frisk would slowly approach him again, bright red eyes glistening and a knife clutched in their hand.

" _our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting…"_

Sans did note though that they seemed like they were trying to cover up an emotion that seemed to be trying to bubble up inside of them. Unfortunately he couldn't figure out what it was. And it was hard enough to think straight as it was without having to worry about getting cut with the knife every five seconds. It wasn't determination, the kid had enough of that as it was-so what could it be? Vengeance? Bloodlust? Mockery that they killed everyone Sans had ever known? That was probably it, they were silently laughing at him because they knew they were solely responsible for killing Papyrus… his very own brother…

" _until suddenly, everything ends."_

Try number five hundred and sixteen. The two of them had been going at it for awhile now; beads of sweat starting to drip down the skeleton's skull. His impressive agility could only help him for so long, and he had a feeling that Frisk knew it. That was the thing. He knew he couldn't win, he couldn't keep this up forever. So why then did he keep trying? Was trying to stop this crazed killer causing him more pain than if he just succumbed to his death?

" _heh heh heh… that's your fault isn't it?"_

Frisk retaliated from Sans' last attack with a migty blow from the knife that of course missed its target. Not by much however. The blade seemed to creep closer to him every battle, unless that was just his imagination.

" _you can't understand how this feels."_

Was it just him, or did Frisk seem to stumble while dodging that last bone attack? They took some damage, that was for sure; the karma catching up to them and destroying their HP supply little by little, like lethal poison. It suddenly registered in Sans' nonexistent brain what the kid's inner turmoil was.

" _knowing that one day, without warning… it's all going to be reset."_

The kid was freaking _tired._ Just as he was. And it was showing. A lot. Maybe…Just maybe…

"listen kid," Sans called in Frisk's direction as he narrowly evaded another frustrated attack. It seemed like they were absentmindedly swiping now, hoping they'd get a hit instead of coordinating an attack. "I know of your true intentions. but buddy… enough is enough."

Frisk paused for a second, then went in for another swipe. When they got close to Sans, he could hear their heavy breaths rattling their body as if they were made of bones as well.

"we've uh… been going at each other for some time now," Sans refused to prepare another attack, and Frisk seemed to notice as they held back what attack they were about to deal. Sans made it apparent that he was exhausted too by clenching his face in a worn out grimace, but still managing to keep that signature grin. He stood there for a second just regaining his breath before continuing.

"but… you know… at this rate, neither one of us is gonna win. ya get it? so, uh… you need to know what i want kiddo. all I ever wanted was to have a peaceful timeline. one where everyone didn't have to die. Like my brother, you get it? but you wouldn't know what it's like, would you? To have someone who cares about you and have someone to care about back? Until now that is…"

Sans cleared his throat and looked Frisk in the eye, trying not to tense at the murderous gleam in it, the type of look that read loud and clear that they wanted to cut him to pieces and lick the blood off the knife.

" listen. I guess all you really need is a second chance, huh? Let's quit fighting… I don't want to have to worry about another enemy anymore. Know how we used to be friends? Well… let's make that timeline become a reality again, shall we?"

Sans mustered a warm smile through his exhausted features and opened his arms for a welcoming hug, one that suggested innocence. "c'mere, pal."

Frisk's whole body seemed to lock up for several minutes as a flash of recognition sparked in those red eyes. They seemed to be contemplating the options within themselves. They trembled for half a second, then Sans watched with a smile of relief as the kid took the bait and rushed towards him with a look of sorrow drowning their face. Moments later, their head was buried in the soft fur that lined the hood of Sans' jacket. The skeleton monster wrapped his arms around their sickly body in return, but definitely noticed when Frisk's arm suddenly raised in a peculiar fashion, most likely getting ready to literally backstab him with their weapon.

However, Sans was successfully quicker and watched with blank eye sockets as several shards of sharp bone lodged themselves into Frisk's body, seeming to come out of nowhere. Again and again and again did the bones pierce human flesh, accompanied by the bloodcurdling noise that went with it. Sans almost felt sorry for them as he released their slackening form. Frisk hit the floor rather harshly, but Sans supposed it wouldn't matter now that they were dead and gone for a five hundred and sixteenth time.

Rooted to the spot, with arms still wide open embracing empty air in a hug, he stared at the floor with that shit-eating grin of his, but also with a look of pain and sadness. Not at Frisk's lifeless body, but a few feet away from it. He couldn't bare to see the damage he'd caused any longer.

"get dunked on-kid"


	2. 20

Sans just stood there, transfixed by what was occurring. Frisk was still laying there on the floor without a single hint of movement. Why weren't they resetting? They should've done so by now. It may have been foolish, but the skeleton leaned over the lifeless Frisk and talked to them, beads of sweat still running down his skull.

"hey kid? he asked in a quiet voice. you uh... ready for the next round?"

Thoughts started to cloud his head when the kid didn't answer. Maybe they gave up. They must've gotten so tired of being disintegrated into ash by the high power beams the Gaster Blasters emanated, or being thrown endlessly into walls or the ceiling by the gravity attack that turned their soul blue.

Their soul! Sans had almost forgotten about their soul. It's been about twenty minutes since the kiddo had officially been dunked on and got killed. Why hasn't their soul reincarnated itself to be absorbed? Sans should've been able to absorb it by now. Not that he'd want such a dirty creature s soul anyway, but still. Alphys would've had a great explanation on why this event wasn't occurring. The thought of one of his friends suddenly pained him. Especially Alphys, she had just up and disappeared without a trace of her whereabouts. Had the kid killed her too? Sans hadn't received any information about that. He knew of Undyne's demise of course; she had seemed to evolve into some sort of being fused together with overpowering determination to live, but had ultimately met the same fate as everyone else. Alphys though? Sans didn't recall anything particularly bad happening to her.

But it was still bothering Sans that Frisk wasn't resetting, and there was no sign of their shattered soul anywhere. Sure it was unnerving, but if Frisk wasn't going to start this dreaded cycle again, what did this mean for Sans? He d done his job. He d protected those innocent people who would've been slaughtered mercilessly in the long run if Frisk had somehow broken the barrier.

Sans waited a few more minutes still awaiting a reset, but none came. It seemed like a happy thing; not having to repeat time anymore in different timelines, but the thought crashed into him that he was alone down here. Only Asgore remained farther up ahead probably gathering the original human souls, but within this timeline they weren't too close of friends yet. It d be useless to seek his help or company.

After such a long time of battling Frisk anyway, Sans needed a well deserved rest, even if he d only had one fight in this time. He knew he could just teleport to wherever he pleased, but thought better of it. Instead he decided to use his legs for a change and walk all the way back to Snowdin.

A long while more seemed to pass before Sans started his journey back to his home. But as he swept down the hall, he couldn't help but look back at the lump that was Frisk lying on the floor before he left.

While it was true that Frisk had been killed by Sans grand signature attack and had given up, one piece of them still managed to cling onto determination- their soul itself.

Just as Sans disappeared out of the room, Frisk's soul finally appeared above them in tattered pieces, some shards even broken off and floating freely close by. The red glow pulsated in no kind of pattern, as if it was fighting its own battle with something. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, it mended itself, every piece going back its original place. The soul would've looked good as new if not for a single thin but noticeable crack splitting right down the center down to the tip at the bottom. The evil that had once trapped Frisk in thoughts of genocide now began to appear like a see-through smoke in front of them where Sans had been until it became fully solid. This was not Frisk's doing; no, Frisk had given up.

The first fallen human stretched their arms as if they d just woken up from a long nap, and opened their bright blood red eyes to inspect the scene in front of them. They spotted something shiny laying a few inches from Frisk and bent to pick it up, ignoring the body as if it was part of the floor. They used the edge of their green sweater with a single yellow stripe to wipe the dried blood and dust from the blade, and smiled into it, looking over their features with a pleased expression. Finally they had their own body after all these years. They no longer had to act through their useless puppet in order to kill. They could now experience the thrill of killing things themselves with their own body. Frisk had never wanted to hurt anyone anyway, anything dark and malicious had solely been the evil residing within them.

The newly formed being lightly drew their finger along the sharp edge of the weapon, admiring it as the most fascinating thing they d ever seen.

Then they suddenly spoke in a soft but raspy voice to no one in particular.

"Greetings. I am Chara."


	3. six

This site works in such a roundabout way, like what the heck? First of all it converts the file without any punctuation so i have to back and put it in again (so don't mind any typos I might have missed) and second, why can't we just directly type it on here like normal people? I do thank those of you who noticed my little corner of the site though! Thank you!

And I also saw in multiple places that hot sauce acts like makeshift drinking for Sans. Don't ask me how, I just thought it was a good idea considering him and is obsession with condiments, so expect that TvT

Sorry not sorry.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sans trudged back home through the snow banks, staring at the ground the whole time with his jacket hood tightly drawn up around his head. Loneliness seemed to eat away at him every step he took. He hadn't seen a single monster coming back to Snowdin, just sheets of dust that were once living creatures. He had to face the music: the Underground was now devoid of life. Not even a Temmie was present in Waterfall.

A light snowfall had begun by the time Sans house came into view, and speckled his blue jacket and black shorts with white snowflakes. He wondered how it could snow here; he was underneath the ground after all, it shouldn't be able to snow from a ceiling. Was this a side effect from the magic spell that had sealed everyone down here?

Sans thoughts wandered to how humans had taken away an innocent race's freedom, and how they now had taken something else of value to him, the person he cared about most. He growled under his breath, although he didn't mean to. Well, it wasn't like anyone could hear him anyway. The whole town was deserted- or so it seemed.

The skeleton s eyes strayed up the house, sizing up the outside of it as if he d never seen it before. True to this, it seemed foreign to him now that he had no one to share it with. The once cheery Christmas light display lining random places along the wood frame had lost their spark and seemed more dull than usual, and Papyrus jolly roger flag that hung atop the roof was motionless and wrinkled without the usual wind that made it flutter. Even where light had once poured from every window of the home, it was dark and gloomy looking. It could hardly be called home anymore.

Sans turned the knob and opened the front door. Everything inside was bathed with that same gloomy darkness like no one had ever lived there. As soon as he closed the door in a gentle manner, he couldn't help but freeze in place and fully grasp the weight of the situation. He d be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit afraid. What was wrong with him? He had always been branded as the laid back one who went with the flow and always seemed to be carefree without a worry in the world. But now, faced with a dangerous future, he began to unravel.

Sans slumped against the door, his legs suddenly unable to support the rest of him. With light blue tears starting to stream down his cheekbones, he sunk to the floor and pulled his knees up close to his chin, sobbing in a tiny ball. When he was finally able to lift his tear soaked head, the first things he spotted were six socks strewn about on the floor faintly resembling a pile.

 _"SANS PLEASE PICK UP YOUR SOCK!"_

 _"ok."_

 _"DON T PUT IT BACK DOWN! MOVE IT!"_

 _"ok."_

 _"YOU MOVED IT TWO INCHES! MOVE IT TO YOUR ROOM!"  
_

 _"ok."_

 _"AND DON T BRING IT BACK!"_

 _"ok."_

 _"IT'S STILL HERE!"_

 _"didn't you just tell me not to bring it back to my room?"_

 _"FORGET IT."_

With shaky legs, Sans got up and trudged to the kitchen, opening the fridge door. He closed his eyes while doing so; it would tear him apart more if he was to see all those leftover containers of spaghetti just innocently sitting there. He felt around the shelf around half used ketchup bottles and finally pulled out a glass bottle of hot sauce from the very back. He immediately popped the top off and drank as much as he could possibly swallow in one go, which was pretty impressive considering he had no throat. Before he knew it, the bottle was empty and he involuntarily dropped it with a trembling hand, causing it to shatter on the floor. To keep from falling with it, Sans steadied himself by placing a hand on the fridge door.

Hot sauce- it always numbed his senses and made the world around him blur, creating a safe haven where he could escape his troubles. The thing was that when he started, he couldn't stop, and it d create dire problems in the future. But at this point, he didn't care. He started to question if it would've been easier if Frisk had killed him.

With an anxious motion, Sans grabbed the last two bottles from the fridge shelf and slowly made his way up the stairs to his room, his bones quaking with every step. Sans entered the dimly lit room and locked the door behind him, his descent into despair already long begun.

For all he cared, he could rot in this room and be fine with it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Six human souls, all pulsating in unison and floating in a slow circle while the eager smiling Chara gawked at them from below. The amount of power the souls had they couldn't comprehend the endless possibilities that they could get away with. The only catch: a human could not absorb another human soul.

Clutching the knife like a close friend, Chara looked back down to the floor where a heap of dust lay, a kingly crown sitting perched on top. Killing Asgore had been surprisingly easy; he had been too shocked by the scene before him. His once dead adopted child advancing on him with a bloodstained knife and a murderous gleam in their eye. All Chara ever wanted was revenge and power, and they d stop at nothing to get what they wanted.

A golden flower suddenly popped up from the earth, lightly shaking the dirt off his six petals. He glanced at Chara, a blank look to his eye until he saw the rainbow light glaring down from the souls. His friendly face contorted into a repulsive snarl while his voice took on a deep raspy tone.

"So you've done it. You've killed everyone you love."

Chara shrugged.

They d finally been reunited with Asriel, now turned into a flower. Chara had by now taken the impression that he was weak. After all, it was Asriel who had resisted killing those humans that had attacked them. Chara on the other hand had wanted to take advantage of Asriel's body and power to really show humanity what they could do. But that weak goat monster had to resist. Chara therefore had little interest in him now, he had proved himself to be too soft and cowardly. They did figure though that he d be useful in the long run. Even now, Chara had used him to go check around to truly see if everyone down in this wretched place was dead.

Chara stroked their blade and lightly tapped a foot. "So is everyone accounted for? No one left to stand in my way?"

Flowey's stem doubled over a little and his face became one of uneasiness. "Well there's still one out there."

Chara froze. "Who?"

Flowey confidently looked the killer in the eye. "Oh, I don't know the one you forgot about? Need I remind you that you never killed that smiley trashbag?"

Chara gripped the knife blade harder so their knuckles turned white. Of course they'd forgotten about the deadliest threat in the Underground! Chara's objective was to kill, and if they couldn't carry out such an action, they couldn't "win the game." That skeleton was the only thing standing in the way of world domination.

"Tell me where he is."


	4. 206

It was incredibly lonely being cooped up in an otherwise empty house for three days straight. Not once had Sans come out of his room. After all, what did he need to live for anymore? His immediate answer: nothing. Nothing at all. But little did he know that he had a visitor.

Flowey popped up from underneath the ground, surveying his surroundings. Snow. Everywhere. How he hated snow. It clung to his stem and petals and it was very cold, something a flower should never have to come into contact with. His mouth curled up in an impulsive sneer at the sight of the cozy looking house looming above him. This had to be the place where the font brothers lived. He'd truthfully seen it a few times before, but only a very short glimpse or two when he was keeping track of Frisk through their adventure. In this case, their adventure of murder and carnage.

With the unwelcome thought of plunging back into the oasis of cold beneath him, Flowey gave a scowl and ducked back underground. Seemingly seconds later, he reappeared within the living room of the house. Biting his tongue to refrain from insulting the place out loud, he took note of how dead it was. No light, just creeping darkness. He actually enjoyed the atmosphere, it accompanied his soulless demeanor much better than it would have if the house was alive and bustling. But at the same time, one thought kept circling through his small head adorned with gold petals:

 _Disgusting._

Quickly and silently, he made his way upstairs, his patience slowly dwindling. What was Chara doing without his presence anyway? They really couldn't do much without a way to harness the power of the human souls. Come to think of it, Chara hadn't really shown much emotion at seeing their best friend again, even as a flower. Flowey had certainly gotten a shock when Chara had made their way into Asgore's castle instead of Frisk. Indeed, the tiny flower had come to the conclusion that Chara's evil presence was so strong within Frisk that when Frisk's physical form died, they stayed alive. This also meant that Chara could do as they pleased with the timeline; they could do whatever they wanted because they were the ones in control now. Flowey shuddered at the thought of Chara's sick fantasies coming alive from their mind and becoming a reality in the material plain.

Easing his mind away from such thoughts, Flowey got back to the task at hand. He found himself in front of the shorter skeleton's door (it wasn't hard to guess which was which after all). A vine miraculously sprouted from the floor and knocked on Sans' door. Right after the knock, there was a great deal of ruffling and hurried steps behind the door.

Sans, clutching an empty hot sauce bottle, rushed to the door with a spark of hope surging through his skull. Could it really be a survivor? He didn't care who it was, so long as they'd survived! He'd take anybody!

Except this. Anything but this.

He whipped the door open with an almost sincere grin and tears of joy threatening to spill from his eye sockets, until-

"Howdy friend."

Sans' first instinct kicked in as he dropped the bottle and his left eye flared bright blue. With a simple upwards yanking motion, Flowey was ripped from the floor, roots and all. The surprised yelp of pain the flower gave out when being forcefully pulled from the ground like a weed encouraged Sans. It filled him with determination.

Clutching Flowey in midair threatening to suffocate him, he hissed _"you,"_ his voice sounding hoarse from not using it for so long.

Flowey remained silent, getting used to the feeling of floating in the air with light blue ribbons of magic coating him, keeping him suspended there.

Sans' eye sockets darkened. "you had a hand in killing my brother, didn't you? you're the one who filled the kid's head with those thoughts of murder and genocide! i'm going to kill you! i'm going to first pull out your petals one by one and then i'll-"

Flowey laughed rather loudly as his eyes grew soulless and hollow while his mouth bared sharp teeth. "Well, you're just full of threats now aren't you? Happy to see me, I suppose? I shouldn't be the one to worry about after all when there are bigger threats out there."

Sans was intrigued by that last line for about a second or two before he dropped the flower, his magic fading away. Flowey gave a soft "oof" as he collided with the hard floor.

Sans gave a ghost of a malicious smile to counter Flowey's. "hey buddy, what's yellow and splattered all over the wall? you if you don't get your sorry leaves out of my house."

Sans had originally been starting to plot a nice revenge that involved Flowey's agonizing death, but suddenly thought better of it. Besides, he had much bigger things to worry about. A seemingly impossible idea had prickled at the back of Sans' skull a few times, but now as he towered over the one who could pose a possible threat, the idea didn't seem all that far fetched. All Sans had to get his hands on was a human soul- and he knew just where to find one.

Flowey growled. "Still think you're a funny little skeleton don't you? We'll see who's laughing when they tear you apart, bone by bone, all two hundred and six of them."

"'they'? who's they?"

As if on cue, the world around Sans started losing color, everything going into greyscale except for him and Flowey. A look of confusion crossed the flower's face as well, indicating Flowey had no idea what was happening either. Sans had to blink a few times to see if he was imagining things, but everything was still dull in different shades of grey as if it were from a black and white movie. Sans felt out of place in such a world, the blue of his jacket showing even brighter against the boring backdrop. Now this place was as gloomy as it had ever been.

"what did you do?" Sans asked Flowey meaning for it to come out hostile but instead sounded curious.

"How should I know? I thought it was you- wait… It couldn't be-? How did they even?" With a look of confused bewilderment and a flash of fear, Flowey disappeared under the floor leaving Sans alone in his house. Except he was alone no more.

Seeing movement from outside, Sans' dark blue soul pounding within him, he rushed to a nearby window to see that the once lifeless piles of dust were forming back into their former monster selves- except inky, menacing and twisted versions that had surely jumped out of the darkest nightmare.


	5. Twice

Sans watched completely horrified as the pitch black formations rose from the dust, their outlines sharp against the pure white snow. They were malicious looking creatures, Sans found, as he studied a Snowdrake that had fully taken form from a dust pile. Its exterior reflected back a dull shine, as it was apparently made of some sort of sticky goop. Heavy looking drops of a black, inky substance dripped off the crown of its head and feathers, and it had opened its beak to reveal a jagged row of razor sharp teeth that could probably rip the flesh off of the grandest whale. Worst of all were its eyes- totally white pools of nothingness that reminded Sans of a single splotch of white paint on a black canvas.

The Snowdrake shook its head a few times, as if amazed it was really living again, and just happened to glance at the window where Sans was perched watching it. The skeleton ducked underneath the window sill, his raspy breaths the only noise in the silent house. He clutched at his jacket with a vice grip, awaiting the chance to look up again. He didn't want to catch that thing's attention, it looked deadly enough as it was and he didn't need it targeting him.

 _what a turn of events,_ he thought desperately. _how did my life spiral into this? how did this even happen? does… everyone look like this now…?_

Steeling his courage, he shakily got up from his crouching position and peeked out the window. The Snowdrake had apparently left the premises fortunately for him, but other resurrected monsters were beginning to linger outside- Sans taking note of how uncomfortably sharp and pointy an Ice Cap's hat looked, although the ice looked rather pretty as it had now been charred black but still took the appearance of regular ice.

Sans knew he needed a way out of this mess and fast. Maybe he could sneak out of one of the windows and try to scrounge out a safe haven. He wanted to teleport, oh so badly, but his magic was unstable after taking so long to use it again and his depressed state. And he didn't want to chance accidentally teleporting somewhere with the most of those… _things_ in it. He had been surprised when he managed to contain his power when uprooting Flowey.

Planning to evacuate as soon as possible, his hand quickly darted behind the couch where his new most prized possession lay, Pap's scarf. Like any other cliché run of genocide, he had kept it as a token of his lost brother. Slipping his jacket down around his shoulders, he wrapped the red fabric around the base of his skull loosely. Pulling his jacket back up around himself and zipping it up to conceal the scarf, Sans took another glance out the window and sunk to the floor wondering what to do next. One thing was certain- he needed to get to the Core in order to snag a soul. Only then would he be able to cross through the barrier and be eternally free.

He temporarily had no magic, so fighting his way through was out of the question. He was utterly useless without it. Was this how humans felt? Sneaking out would be the only option- wait… what was that?

Sans tensed as he heard a dreadful sound of nails scraping wood. The sound echoed from the kitchen. What the heck could be in there? None of those weird goopy things had gotten in, had they? Sans felt something wet slide down his spine and he shuddered. Of course some of his magic had returned to allow him to sweat because of his nervousness. God, he was nervous. He really needed to get out of here, or death wouldn't be too far off, he guessed.

Standing, he shuddered again when something sounded it was pounding on a wooden door. _The cabinet door under the sink._ And what usually had dwelled in the cabinet under the sink that annoyed Papyrus to no end? Sans froze as a low growl rang out from the kitchen, and hinges were broken off of the rest of the wood. Sans ran, not even looking behind him as he realized what was there and had just broken free.

The annoying dog, no longer the cute, fluffy little creature that wagged its tail at everything and gave an adorable bark. This one, brought back as a twisted version of it, had black fur and teeth the size of steak knives that looked as though it could barely fit them within his muzzle. It also had hooked claws that dug into the carpet leaving scratch marks. It had to have been twice the size of the normal dog, and it was perfectly angry.

Its deep white eyes spotted Sans as the poor monster retreated up the stairs and swept across the balcony. The vicious dog bounded to the stairs itself and leaped with impressive back paws to land at the very top, not stopping as it chased Sans down the hall and got a door to the face as the skeleton slammed it on it.

His soul pounding, feeling as if he was about to burst, he tried desperately to hold the door shut against the snarling thing on the other side. No magic meant no protection, no summoning gaster blasters or thick arrays of bones to penetrate the enemy. But… he had to do something, or he'd surely die.

Sans tried as hard as he could muster enough calm to use his teleport power, although with such an unstable connection to the rest of the Underground, he had idea where he'd end up. Maybe he'd get lucky and appear in the king's castle. But, just his luck, when he used the little magic he had, he ended up in his shed right next to the house just as the vicious dog came crashing into his room, almost bringing the door itself with it. This was the last thing Sans saw until he appeared someplace different which just happened to be right here in Snowdin still.

Gaining some of his breath back, he crawled over to lock the shed door then flattened himself against the chilly wall. And that was when his little friend came around again.

"what's happening out there…?" Sans managed to wheeze out as he clutched his jacket again.

Flowey looked at him, half pleased that Sans looked like he'd been run over by a bus twice over. But the other half of him was distraught at what the future could now hold.

"Easy. This useless world has been taken over by a new vessel."

"oh? who's that? i thought frisk was gone."

Flowey gave a grin that said all too well, "You are an idiot", but refrained from saying so himself. "Frisk is definitely gone. But from Frisk rose the second soul residing in them all along- Chara."

Sans once again felt as though he might might have a heart attack without actually having a heart, which was saying a lot. Of course he remembered Chara, the first human to fall through the barrier, the child who had been treated as their own to Toriel and Asgore. The human who was never very nice.

"are you telling me that chara is back from the dead and has now taken control over the timeline?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, skeleton."

For some weird reason, Sans had the sick feeling that he was going to have a very bad time.


	6. 100 percent

Whoops, long chapter. I'm also trying to watch the profanity. Well, as best I can.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Holding his skull in his hands, Sans wondered how his world could have spiraled into total chaos over the course of just a few days. Seriously, this was probably a new record. Sans might as well have had a trophy that read "Fastest Period of Time That a World Has Gone Completely Down The Drain Award".

Flowey let out a drawling laugh that dripped with venom, the demon flower apparently taking pleasure in Sans' distraught reaction.

Sans ignored him and instead muttered under his breath. "how did chara come back…? they've been gone for years and then they suddenly reappear? for what?"

"If I knew this was possible, I would have done it way sooner," Flowey replied, rolling is eyes. "Who knew that it's always been possible to bring my valued partner back? This useless world would not have been so boring if I'd had Chara here with me all along. Just think of the havoc we could've caused before Frisk even slipped through that stupid barrier."

Sans didn't want to have to think about more carnage to his home, thank you very much. Sure he wanted to be on the surface free of resets more than anything, but this was his home for now and he had to at least care for it.

"you need to tell me," Sans said in a stern and unfriendly tone. "how are they back in place of frisk? You have to know something, you worthless little weed."

Flowey sneered at him. "You're an idiot to not have figured it out yet. You of all monsters should have felt it whenever they were close to you. Radiating off their soul was a high amount of determination. Far more than a single human kid should have had. Then it finally came to me- Frisk was not one but two human beings. The resurrected form of Chara that took root within them." Flowey stretched his stem up a little to look bigger and gave a giant smile with something dark inlaid within it to express his excitement of Chara's return. Moments later, he glowered at Sans with those hollow eyes and sharp teeth, a raspy voice emitting from his throat that was once happy sounding. "Chara is the one who killed all of those innocent monsters from inside Frisk. Frisk did start off with those intrigued thoughts of 'what would happen if I destroyed these innocent souls?' of course, but after a few kills, I sensed something new in them. And that something only grew bigger as they progressed until they were no longer in control. Chara has a way with that, taking control over things that they want."

It all began to come together to Sans as he lifted himself to his feet with wide eyes. "the kid's determination overpowered frisk and barred them from coming back when they died… chara has the highest determination in the underground. so that means-"

"Yep, they got what they wanted. Total power over this timeline."

It dawned on Sans that Chara most likely knew that he was still alive down here, and probably reincarnated everyone into twisted versions of themselves to kill him and get rid of a potential threat so the little killer wouldn't have to get their hands dirty. Sans couldn't help but clench his jawbone. Now this stuff was getting personal. Chara had most likely been the one to murder Papyrus, not Frisk. Frisk was merely just a puppet. He came to the conclusion that since Chara was alive to feel pain and suffering now, Sans had to deliver a heaping feast of gaster blasters to Chara's face personally.

 _papyrus…don't worry bro, i'm going to avenge you. chara has lost the privilege to live after what they've done to you and everybody else._

With that thought, a surge of anger sparked through Sans' bones, making him reach for the door to the shed.

Flowey watched him and cackled. "Are you seriously going out there? Not to ruin your precious little plan you seem to have acquired, but I'm afraid if you get out there, friend, you'll 100% die. Actually, I need a good laugh, so go right ahead."

Through Flowey's quaking laughter, the thought did occur to Sans that going out there would be suicide. He wished he had enough magic in him to teleport safely all the way to Asgore's castle, but he still needed to recover; it'd be pretty risky. Besides, if he did teleport, he'd be using up all the potential energy for his showdown with Chara. He'd be waltzing in there asking to be knifed, all to the sick killer's delight. He'd have to do it the old fashion way and pretend to be Frisk for the next few days.

"i've got no other choice," Sans snapped. "what about you, buddy? you take a step out there too, and i'll hurry for a front row seat when you die."

Flowey puffed himself up and scoffed, trying to look as classy and high up as he could for a plant. "You really are a brainless, lazy sack of bones. Those idiots won't hurt me, I'm Chara's best friend. They've probably been enchanted to only target you."

Sans thought he saw Flowey fidget nervously for a second, but waved it off. "well i'm not just going to sit here. i'm coming for them, and you can go ahead and warn them about it because i'll kill them either way."

Without stopping to listen to what the flower was about to say next, Sans opened the door a tiny bit and looked outside. Blinking in dismay, he opened it all the way, only a lot less careful and quiet.

"What are you doing?!" Flowey hissed from behind him. "Do you have a death wish, you insufferable moron?!"

"there's no one here."

"Speak louder you insignificant worm, before I shove a thorny vine right through your eye socket!"

Sans whipped around to glare at him with a ghostly glowing blue eye. "Threaten me again if you want a joyful swim in the freezing river."

Upon remembering the cold grip of snow clinging to his poor petals, Flowey stayed mostly silent, only complaining softly about how everyone around him was no doubt a moron.

Sans stepped outside to nothingness. No one was there. No monsters of infinite darkness, no growling, mutated, and inky black weirdos coming to bite his head off with saber teeth. All that remained were their prints in the crisp snow that showed them limping away to some other location that was not here. An eerily quiet, chilly mist stung at his bones trying to make him shiver. While it was extremely lucky for them to have left, something not quite right tried edging itself into Sans' skull. He'd need to proceed with caution.

Jabbing his hands into his fluffy jacket pockets, he continued at a lazy stroll down the path to Waterfall with a frazzled Flowey in tow. He was kind of hard to see through the gathering fog, but his bright yellow petals were quite clear in the otherwise white world around them.

Going as slow a pace as his companion, Flowey growled. "So, what? Where are they? Maybe they sensed me being there and all backed off so as not to hurt me-"

"shush!" Sans had stopped short, causing Flowey to crash into the back of his leg with a frustrated and furious shriek. Sans knew the sound of crunching snow, and there was definitely something or someone approaching them through the fog. Flowey must've heard it too, because he stopped wailing just long enough to listen.

Through the misty terrain came a figure that made an already wide eyed Sans almost burst into tears and throw himself at the person's feet. The other monster came to a stop when he was merely a silhouette, a dark shape outlined against the pure white fog. He smiled and opened his arms warmly, expecting an embrace from the lost sibling that was forcefully taken from him.

"papyrus…?" Everything around Sans vanished, all that mattered was here and now, him and his brother. Not even Flowey's loud, vain attempts to catch his attention as Sans was sent into a stupor of joy could wake him from this dream that he'd been awaiting for so long. Sans had always secretly hoped that the kid hadn't really killed Papyrus, and he had just been faking it the whole time. As much as he'd desperately wanted it to be true, he knew very well that it wasn't possible. But here he was, in the flesh- or bone, rather- and looking as though he couldn't believe he had been gone!

Flowey was screaming at him now, but Sans ignored the damn flower. Even that scrawny little weed couldn't keep him apart from his brother. And with that thought the short skeleton ran at Papyrus as fast as his legs would allow, forgetting all the worrying things that had been pressing against the sides of his skull as of late. Everything would be better when he was safely united in the arms of Pap! Tears of joy began to sting at the sides of his eye sockets, his grin becoming sincere after such a long time of it being forced. His jacket billowed out in the chilly wind behind him; it had always been a smidgeon too big, he had to admit.

"papyrus, i can't believe- no i missed-!" He found himself stopping short, almost head on crashing into the dreadful monster that revealed itself before him just a few feet away. Flowey's words calling from afar echoed inside his head. "He's like the others, you dim witted pile of marrow! Why would Chara spare only your brother and no one else? Chara grants no one mercy."

Chara grants no one mercy. Sans was standing there, planted quite firmly in the snow, his bones trembling, trying not to hyperventilate with the tornado of emotion suddenly enveloping him. This was not his bro, Pap was not inky black and didn't have emotionless eyes that only held the desire to eliminate. This was that kid's sick fantasy of Papyrus, one that had certainly come from a nightmare precisely to target Sans and be rid of him for Chara. His mind gave a sick lurch when he thought that maybe all of his friends had come back like this. Half alive again, looking for vengeance and an end to Sans' life.

"GREETINGS BROTHER," even his voice sounded distorted. "IT IS I THE GREAT PAPYRUS. WHILE IT MAY BE A SHOCK TO YOU, I'M AFRAID I HAVE TO FULFILL MY DUTIES OF NOT LETTING YOU PASS INTO WATERFALL. FORGIVE ME, BUT MY JOB COMES ABOVE ALL ELSE."

Before Sans could even give out the strangled cry that was arising in his throat, sharp bones jutted up from the ground causing him to focus more on backing up in shock so as not to get impaled. They appeared faster than Papyrus could probably ever manage if he was still truly around, making him stumble and fall backwards. Sans suspected he looked rather ridiculous crab walking backwards and falling over every five seconds, but Flowey was too occupied with the arsenal of bones to notice and laugh at his failures.

"IT IS ME OR YOU SANS. I AM SORRY." Except it was apparent he didn't seem the least bit sorry about it.

Sans faceplanted into the snow a few inches from Flowey panting heavily as bones seeking death finally stopped sticking up out of the ground. The ones that were already present however were standing strong and looked like a sharp forest coming out of the ground. Not something someone would want to fall on, that was for sure. He sat up, glancing at the shadow Papyrus again and then down in front of him where an eerie blue glow began to form. Watching with bewilderment, Sans saw a blue, cartoonish heart materialize in front of him, about half a foot high- his soul.

The shocking realization also hit Flowey as Sans drew in a sharp breath that sounded extremely pained. "You have to fight him…! Your own brother, as if you had to pretend to be Frisk! Man this should be good! I'll have to congratulate Chara later for bestowing such great entertainment on me."

Well, there goes the world crashing full force into a brick wall again, taking Sans with it. This task seemed impossible, especially since a certain monster only had one HP. Which means if he got hit once, it was game over for him. He'd die, and he'd never be able to show Chara his mettle. Sans was certainly doomed beyond recognition. But then… what was that thing that Frisk always had when they had fought a monster? The feeling that surged through them, granting them success every time they would fight and the resets that would occur when the kid did lose? Determination, that was it. Maybe with a bit of will power and sheer determination, Sans could pull off this miraculous stunt. He stood up, brushing the flaky bits of snow off his shorts to Flowey's dismay.

"You're actually going to do it?! We both know how weak you are, you should give up before he kills you. And what if you do manage to win? You'll be destroying the person you've worked so hard to get back from the very start of this genocide run." His voice was filled with pure mockery intended to seep into Sans' bones and turn him against fighting his sibling. Giving up was wise, as Chara would probably terminate him when the time came anyway.

Standing firm, the skeleton simply replied, "he's not my brother. that thing isn't my brother, buddo. my bro is gone, even if i don't want to hear it. he might be made from his dust, but no matter how i look at it, i can't imagine that repulsive monster as my sibling. and if i gotta get rid of it in order to find my happy ending, then that's what fate has determined for me, huh?"

This statement left the tiny plant silent, mulling over it's truth. Instead "Papyrus" spoke. "I AM WAITING. IT IS YOUR TURN, SANS."

Sans faced towards the black mass of matter that claimed to be his sibling and glowered at it, like it was a cold brussel sprout that nobody wanted. Knowing that he could in fact somehow travel through the Underground and serve justice to Chara, it filled him with determination.

Sans advanced on the enemy, the thought prickling the back of his mind that he couldn't be hit once or it'd be over. The confrontation began briskly, but Sans adapted and was pretty great at it so far, dodging attacks like they were nothing, and standing absolutely still for the fabled blue attack. This was actually easier than he initially thought, his agility becoming quite a useful tool in this situation. Just when he got close to Papyrus, and summoned a sharp edged bone in his hand to deal his blow, he was forced backwards by something unseen onto his back where he had to helplessly deflect oncoming bones with his own weapon. Any harder of a jolt, and Sans might have cracked his spine. What had stifled his efforts of winning this fight?

When Sans was finally able to catch his breath at the pause of the battle and see what was before him, his soul must've sunk several inches in midair. Gaster blasters. Huge, pitch black, mean looking, and with much pointier appendages than Sans remembered. One opened its gaping maw straight at Sans and not a moment later, released a dark beam that glowed white around the edges that illuminated the whole area. Shielding his eyes, Sans managed to scrabble out of the trajectory of the fearsome creature, but by mere inches. He wouldn't be able to get close to Papyrus with these things in the way. So far, thankfully, there were only two, but they were far more nastier looking than Sans' trusty companions and a few times bigger as well. He got up again, noting that they were slow to move and recover from previous attacks. He could use this to his advantage.

Impressively ducking beneath the crisscross pattern of their laser beams, Sans was about to slide underneath one of them for an easy, vulnerable attack when he tripped and fell on his side, the sharp bone in his hand skidding across the snow out of reach like what would happen in a typical sword fight. He glanced back to investigate what had happened when he spied a bright green vine retreating into the snow so as to escape the onslaught. Anger coursed through him. That stupid freaking flower had probably just ruined his chances of beating the shadow Papyrus. Nice work Flowey.

He froze on the ground, lying completely still as the two blasters were aimed at him, jaws wide open preparing to loose another beam at their master's command. Sans could hear the faint hum of building energy, and he really didn't want to be in the line of fire of something so powerful. Papyrus appeared on the other side of Sans, blocking his last escape route. He looked quite amused, whether if it was with Sans or himself for putting together such a smooth battle. "AH, WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY. VICTORY ONCE AGAIN GOES TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I SHALL BE SMOTHERED IN RICHES UNTOLD FOR GETTING RID OF YOU! OOO, AND MAYBE ENDLESS BOXES OF SPAGHETTI AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE! WOULDN'T THAT BE GREAT SANS? YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF HAVING SUCH A NOBLE SIBLING SUCH AS MYSELF!"

Sans grinned at him as if to congratulate him "nice work bro! except you're forgetting one little detail."

Startled, Papyrus asked, "WHAT?"

"you have to actually kill your enemies head on right when they become vulnerable. Even a few seconds could mess up the whole thing and could turn the tables on ya. got it? otherwise they might get the upper hand and kill you when you're busy making your monologue."

Papyrus lit up as though the sun were rising in his head. "AN EXCELLENT OBSERVATION BROTHER! I SHALL BE SURE TO TAKE HEED OF IT NEXT TIME-"

With a swift motion of his hand, Sans sliced upwards with is newly regained weapon. Even if the inky black monster before him was not entirely his brother, he still felt an immense pang of guilt when Papyrus split apart and his remnants spread to the ground like ash falling from the sky. The gaster blasters too tensed and vanished. Good thing it had still acted like his brother. While keeping it busy, Sans had been able to slide his weapon over to him with an outstretched foot and quickly gained the victory. Not that Sans would _ever_ take advantage of Papyrus if the true one was here. In fact, this had been something he'd been trying to prevent. It hurt to have done it himself.

Dropping his makeshift knife with a shaky breath, Sans collapsed on the ground and just laid there, trying to process what just happened. He killed his brother. No, not his brother. He had to keep reminding himself while that it was made from his dust, it was certainly NOT Papyrus. But still… would he be able to live with himself after supposedly murdering his sibling? His mind began to desperately spiral into dark thoughts of shutting himself away again with more bottles of hot sauce. He could have if the hell bound flower hadn't have paid him a visit.

 _The stupid weed._ He had tripped Sans, no doubt trying to help the enemy kill him. Probably for the sake of a good laugh. Growling, Sans hoisted himself to his feet and clutched fists inside his jacket pockets. Teeth clenched, he made his way past the debris of shattered bone from the fight to where Flowey had been when this whole thing started.

He tried to keep from roaring his words as he spoke with raw anger. "i said i'd kill you, and now i'm sticking to my word you-"

He stopped short when he realized that Flowey was nowhere in sight, but instead a shiny silver blade reflected his face back at him in the place where the little flower should have been.


	7. Three Quarters

While before it may have been a type of blasphemy to use a knife that had once been in the hands of a murderer, a child no less, Sans came to the conclusion that it would have to do. The bone he'd been using had sustained a long crack that ran throughout three quarters of the blade when it had skidded across the thick layer of ice, and he figured if it was to be used anymore, it'd shatter and he'd be defenseless. But it was plainly obvious that the flower had left this for him on purpose. But the reason was unknown to Sans.

At this moment in time, he was trudging through Waterfall, holding the lightweight blade in front of him and examining if it had been cursed or enchanted or something. No such thing was evident however. It was just a normal knife as far as Sans could tell. And he should know, he knew magic when he saw it.

He ran a finger smoothly down its surface then looked into the shiny metal, his face glinting back at him as though it were a mirror. He gulped and hoped he'd never have to use it. Following in the footsteps of the kid who solely caused this whole thing wasn't the best way to start your day. Holy Asgore, did Sans want pacifist Frisk at his side. They would probably be much more determined in this situation than he felt right now.

Sans didn't want to look at the repulsive weapon no more than he had to, so he tucked it away within the inner linings of his jacket. Distant rapids of a waterfall could be heard deep in the secluded cave as he approached. Sans paused in front of his old sentry station, parked right near a blue, softly glowing echo flower that had a slightly similar resemblance to Flowey. Its light started to pulse as Sans walked near it, but it did no more. This struck him as odd, since he remembered everything around him had turned grayscale a short time before. And indeed, everthing was bland and dark around him but the flowers. He strolled over to the sentry station and ran a hand along the dusty counter, kicking up particles into the air. Geez, this thing got dirty really fast.

As he was examining the empty ketchup bottles scattered on the ground behind the station, an all too familiar childish laugh sounded behind him. _"So you managed to overcome your impending sadness and kill your brother… interesting. Chara might actually have use for you as a puppet of theirs if they'd recognize your potential. Too bad you're too weak to do some considerable damage. What a shame."_

Startled, Sans whipped around, expecting a small golden flower with a twisted facial expression looking up at him with those soulless, mocking eyes. But there was no one there but himself. He started to get frustrated at how much of a coward the flower was to not come face him, but then he realized the echo flower was still planted there innocently next to the sentry station, and it wasn't pulsing. Instead, it gave off a dull blue light like it was afraid of shining any more than it had to.

Sans backed up, still keeping his eye sockets trained on the echo flower in suspicion, then whipped around and continued strutting down the tunnel. He jabbed his hands in his pockets and sucked in a breath. No way was that flower going to get inside his skull with all this annoying bullying. Sans was going to strongly march up to the castle door and maybe punch Chara square in the face. He hadn't sincerely laughed in ages, and that was a good place to start again.

With this thought in mind, he pressed forward a little more determined than before. He walked over the bridge that jutted out a few feet from a gigantic waterfall that usually spewed rocks at oncoming passerby, but was doing nothing of the sort today. He looked down into the dark cavern below, of which there was probably no escape. He was far from afraid of heights, and in fact, it seemed to invigorate him a bit. His confidence began to dwindle however as a shrill laugh dipped in poison floated over to him from an echo flower positioned on a lower platform. He swore he felt the worn wooden planks underfoot give a jostle like something big had just landed on it and gave a soft growl, but there was no one behind him, he found.

" _Admit it, you're a sight for sore eyes. You will never get to the Core, let alone the king's castle. Chara's little minions will make sure of that. You might as well give up now before you see something you might regret. Which you will if you continue along this path. You might even call it a bad time. Also, did I mention Asgore is dead?"_

It sounded like that godforsaken flower was whispering right in his ear. Sans swatted at the side of his skull just to be on the safe side, and kept going. He couldn't stop now, he couldn't afford it. It was no surprise Asgore was dead at the hands of Chara anyway, right? …Right…? Well, Asgore _had_ been the strongest monster down here after all… No. His mind couldn't drift to such gruesome thoughts like this. He sped up, gritting his teeth.

He didn't hear anything as he crossed the already solved puzzle of the bridge blossoms, and felt pretty confident that Flowey would bother him no more. That was, until he saw the echo flowers litter the room in front of him. Star-like crystals glowed from the ceiling casting a dim light over the pulsing flowers below. Sans froze and squashed himself as best he could against the wall near the doorway. Any movement, and the flowers would sense his arrival, all going off at once like a domino effect. Could he handle that? He had no other choice but to go through it. This was the only way forward.

Sans took a deep breath, hearing his bones slightly clatter in the silence. Then he ran as fast as his legs would allow.

" _You fool. If you keep going, Chara will kill you. Over and over. I can't stress enough how much of an idiot you are. You're walking to your death."_

" _Maybe… hehe… They'll punish you for opposing them. I can see it now- Chara bringing back your brother and forcing you to watch him die again and again and again. Now that's something I want to see! It'd be funny to see you writhe in emotional pain like that. After all, it's no secret he was close to you."_

" _Do you think you're smart? Or are you just that stupid? It's hard to tell, I can see right through you. Ha! I used a pun against you! What's the matter? You should be laughing. Don't you like puns? Oh here's another good one. Why did Chara kill you and then reset multiple times? To see you suffer! I think that's the funniest yet!"_

" _Maybe you won't even survive to get to Chara. Maybe something else will come along and end you, like I mentioned before. Either way, I'll be watching. Because I wouldn't want to miss it. Personally, I think it'd be amusing if you died at the paws of one of those weird, derpy little things that even have their own village here. What are they… Temmies? Pathetic on your part, but amusing."_

" _Hahahahah! You're such an IDIOT."_

A thousand voices seemed to scream at him at once, so loud and full of taunts that it probably could've split Sans' skull in two right there. He held his head and grit his teeth so hard, they could've cracked. It wasn't as bad as Sans thought it would be- it was worse. Flowey's shrill laugh echoed and pinged off every wall, reverberating back to its target. It was so bad, his vision began to slur and he felt himself slump against a wall, still clutching desperately onto his head. He couldn't rest long however, as black masses began taking shape right before his eyes, molding into deadly looking Woshuas and Aarons which were actually quite scary looking when interpreted by Chara.

Eyes widening as black goop began dripping from every nook and cranny, Sans started down the hall again, taking such a sharp turn that one of his old telescopes that he accidentally nudged with an elbow clattered to the ground and was overrun by dark formations in mere seconds. He didn't check to see if they were chasing him, but he honestly didn't care. All he cared about was focusing on getting to Hotland.

Sans was so helpless in his dazed stupor that he hadn't even realized where he was. Luckily, he found a wall and leaned against it to get his vision back. When he did, it was like a black carpet had been rolled across the ground. Gray colored fireflys danced in midair around cattails and typhas, and lily pads hung about in the bright blue water that oddly still had color like the echo flowers. The water was usually still and tranquil, but now it was still with an eerie atmosphere, like something was watching him. Going as slow as possible to regain his senses, Sans blinked in amazement at how far he'd come blindly. He trudged onward, even taking the effort to appreciate the peaceful scene before him. Not surprisingly though, he heard low growls start to appear from all sides of the gigantic marsh room. Sans sped up, clomping on the grass pretty harshly until he whisked to the other end of the room. He was about to enter into the next area when something inky and menacing rose from the floor. Alarmed, he saw it take shape into a mutilated looking Shyren who spread vicious looking claws and bared fangs.

Sans felt a tug at his chest and looked down to see his navy blue soul appear in front of him to signal a confrontation with a monster. He thought of bolting back in the other direction in order to avoid it, but remembered the knife in his jacket. Shyren lept in mere seconds of appearing and Sans dodged by a few inches to pull out the weapon from within his coat and threw it full force without thinking. It hit its mark, impaling the Shyren right through the torso and even embedding itself into the ground to keep her pinned there. She tried getting up with sheer anger, but felt herself halt like she was glued to the ground. Luckily for Sans it dissipated back into a harmless dust, brushing across the blade like volcanic ash. This was when he frightfully noticed the army of enemies closing in on him from all sides.

He cursed harshly under his breath with choice vocabulary, then sprinted forward head on towards the heart of the sea of enemies. Along the way he bent down and grasped the hilt of the knife, raising it to once again bury it into something dangerous and goopy. He swung the knife, getting ready to slash with every shred of possible power when… he vanished into thin air leaving the prowling monsters confused and angry.

Sans in the meantime, had appeared in a very peculiar place. He looked around the tiny cave and noticed a skylight in the ceiling opening up to the pattering of rain falling through it onto a slippery looking stone statue. While its face was obscure, its arms were bent inward like it wanted to be holding something and thick horns protruded up from the sides of its head.

Sans suddenly realized he needed another breather when his skull felt heavy. He leaned for the millionth time against the rocky wall and sat on the floor. He was most likely getting the back of his shorts wet by doing so, but he didn't care. He was just pleased to be away from all those things. He hadn't wanted to use his teleportation magic yet again, but there were just too many. And with one HP? He'd be a fish in a barrel surrounded by sharks made of black goo. And he didn't want to chance it, thanks. But this wasn't a good thing when he thought about it. He just used up more power that could've been spent on Chara's demise.

A few more minutes of a lazy rest and gazing at the intriguing statue had Sans getting up with creaking bones and strolling almost at a leisurely pace down the tunnel. He had to keep going, or those creatures would catch up. What a happy day that would be. Sans stepped out into the rocky corrider and found that there was no ceiling, only air open to the rain that cast a fresh, invigorating scent as it fell and splattered into puddles on the floor. The sound of it seemed to calm him for a few seconds until he remembered his whole predicament. His signature smile fell a little at the thought. Why was he trying? The outcome would probably come out terribly just as Flowey had predicted. Even if he did somehow manage to snatch a soul and cross the barrier, he'd be doing it alone. And he wanted to watch the sunset in peace with his sibling and friends. He'd be utterly and totally alone in a world full of humans. He'd be the only monster, and then what would the humans do? Kill him just as they did with Asriel all those years ago? The poor kid. He'd only been trying to save his best friend- the child who was now ironically corrupting and destroying the world they grew up in.

Through his deep thinking, Sans wound his way down into a wide open area, one where you could once see the high ceiling glittering with thousands of crystals that looked like a full night sky, and the Core complete with Asgore's prim looking castle sitting proudly atop it. Now however, Sans stood, mouth agape at the repulsive wonder that lay before him.

Asgore's castle- or what had once been his castle- looked destroyed but intact at the same time. Menacing looking spires pointed up into the air, topped with a bright red color that looked suspiciously like the color of human blood. Black smoke was rising from it like a fire was burning inside at this very moment, and the stone bricks were cracked, splayed and lopsided. Not one had survived the onslaught of terror. Boulders torn from the framework lay in heaps around the castle itself, and pitch black, ornate spikes came out of the most randomest places, twisting and turning in no sort of pattern to plainly keep intruders out. And that thing looked like it could scare anybody away, what with the unfriendly demeanor. It was sickening to see something so pretty flipped around into something so ugly and abstract. Chara had clearly been having fun destroying the place the best they could, just to mock the king's good name. It made Sans sneer with disgust and turn away from it, shunning it from view. He couldn't stand to look at it anymore. But one thing did catch his attention the most, and that had been the large and cartoon looking heart made of stone carved into the side of the structure. It was a soul, and it was cracked and chipped away at like the rest of the place. It was glowing a bright shade of red that would've looked happier in a differing scenario.

The image of the whole thing still haunted Sans as he couldn't help but teleport again. This time it was for a good cause, he convinced himself. Now he found out where he had sent himself to, as he glanced around to reach his bearings. A mountainous peak loomed before him with a cave opening yawning in the side of it. Perfect. A one way ticket to Hotland. He promised himself sternly that he wouldn't take anymore shortcuts.

As he took a step forward however, his slipper barely touched the ground when he jumped in a very large amount of shock at the black, electricity ridden spear that skewered the ground quite hard centimeters from where he stood. Something was definitely trying to get his attention, and it was working.

Gulping with the throat he didn't possess, the pinpricks of his pupils wandered up to the flat top of the sharp mountain peak, wishing he hadn't made that promise about the shortcuts. He also furiously reminded himself that he hated promising things.

Standing there glowering at him with a thrilled look to her eye was the resurrection of Undyne the Undying.


	8. 4 and a half

Chara's Undyne leaped down from high above Sans and landed several feet in front of him, creating a crater in the ground because of how high she had been. His soul sunk at the repulsive sight of her.

"Well well well!" she snarled, baring silver fangs. "If it isn't my favorite skeleton! Delighted to see ya, you bonehead!"

Sans couldn't help but back up, clutching the knife harder. If he had skin over his knuckles, they would've gone white from his fingers being clasped around it so tight.

She shrugged, pretending she had no idea why Sans was wary of her. "Hey bud, what's the matter? Temmie got your tongue? How's about I help you with that, _friend?"_ She spat that last word out like it was a food she forgot she hated. She formed a fist above her head, her armor pieces clanking against one another in little chinking noises. In less than a second (you would've missed it if you blinked), another sharp spear made of pure, dark electricity materialized in her hand and she chucked it at Sans with amazing agility. He barely had a second to get out of the way before the enemy weapon almost shattered his soul to pieces. It did catch his jacket however and made a thin tear in the fabric on his arm about 4 and 1/2 inches long. He shuddered, trying to catch his breath. The surprise attack had knocked the air out of him as he tried to dodge, and he stood there wheezing.

Her ugly sounding laughter bounced off the rock faces. "This'll be fun. When I kill you in a painful scorching death, I'll be rewarded handsomely!"

Sans didn't know why, but all he could think of as a suitable reward was fish food. He guessed his mind was hysterically glitching out and trying desperately to pretend that there wasn't a gigantic toothy-grinned threat in front of him.

Undyne shrugged, tossing a crackling energy spear from hand to hand as if it was a harmless toy. "But you know, I really should play fair. I mean you deserve some protection, don't you?"

Sans wondered what she meant by that until his soul melded into a buoyant green. Watching in total dismay, a thin, transparent version of his soul became visible a few layers above his original- except the shield-like one was ten times bigger. It was almost as tall as he was. It was a very peculiar thing, but would work great for deflecting oncoming attacks. He experimentally swung it around, pretending to block things with it, noting its durability as a real shield and how lightweight it was. It was almost like holding a feather.

Undyne had begun pacing a bit, waiting for him to finish testing the waters. When Sans finally planted his feet apart and raised his soul-shield in an attack stance, she asked "You done?"

Sans nodded, shooting another glance at the protecting layer of his soul nervously. What if it was a trick and it didn't work? It sounded like something Chara's minion would pull.

Undyne turned tail and only the crunching sound of her footsteps against gravel, her loud armor, and a fierce howling wind could be heard. Sans believed she was going to leave and abandon the approaching confrontation until she halted and snapped her fingers, her back still turned. Instantly, black electric spears erupted out of nowhere, littering the sky with tension, darkness, and evil energy. One launched itself, aiming to pierce Sans' bright green soul, but the skeleton swung his arm to block it with the protector, squeezing his eye sockets shut and hoping for the best. The crisp sound of glass shattering rang in his skull and a light pressure was applied to his shield as the two objects collided at full force. Sans opened his eyes wide in disbelief, just managing to see the tail of the first spear dissolve into nothingness against his deflector. His soul was unscathed! But then he remembered all the others that littered the sky before him.

As soon as his breath was back, Undyne released a shrill laugh and practically went berserk on the spears, shouting insults and taunts to try to throw him off as well. Dozens and dozens of the sharp things all at once tried stabbing him painfully in the soul, and the crude remarks Undyne yelled at him in a mocking sing-song voice were not helping one bit. Sans had to admit that he was getting quite a workout from this exercise though. He could feel the beads of magic sweat roll off his skull that most likely plopped onto his jacket somewhere.

More than once however, he'd slip up and almost get himself impaled to Undyne's delight. Little by little, her dark magic spears ebbed away until only one remained. Sans' grin became sincere with pride as he witnessed the last one come sailing at him with incredible speed. By now he was a pro, so he didn't worry too much about it. He did get extremely worried however when this particular spear changed direction last second and did a loop-the-loop over his head to try and nab him from the back. Unfortunately, he couldn't swing his soul shield around quick enough to block it. Sans expected a sharp pain to pierce him in the spine, but instead the projectile went _through_ him, like it was a hologram. This, Sans figured, was probably going to be much worse, seeing as it wasn't aiming for his physical form, but his soul.

DEATH! ELECTRIFYING, BLAZING HOT, PAINFUL DEATH! Sans had to pull his shaky arm off his rattling skull to find that the only pain that was apparent here was a numb, distant sensation of it, like it was eating at the edges of his body but couldn't quite figure out how to get into him. The tiny pinpricks of light that served as his pupils stared blankly at how his soul had not a scratch, and was just as radiant a green as before. Instead, thin spider web cracks had started to appear along his safeguard. He got it now: A few more hits to it and it would break, allowing his soul to become vulnerable to attack.

Undyne looked to be twiddling her thumbs and yawning from afar with a "that was boring child's play" face. She pretended to think before she hatched the brilliant plan that was already eager in her mind and she snapped her fingers again to summon more electric spears with a cackle.

Sans might as well have melted into a puddle as goopy as the monsters Chara had thought up. He couldn't take much more of this abuse. He might have been quick, but even he got tired after awhile. And his lack of full magical power was not exactly making it all peachy either. He'd have to escape somehow.

Just before the first few spears jolted at him yet again, he remembered the gaping mouth to Hotland in the side of the spiked mountain where Undyne had been lying in wait. So instead of blocking the forceful attacks with his weakened protector, he barrel rolled to the right, earning a gasp of shock and intrigue from Undyne. Apparently she believed he didn't have the ability to escape, as she watched dumbfounded when Sans dodged more spears and slid with all his might across the ground and between the fish monster's legs. He skidded to a stop behind her, and without looking back and thinking twice about his actions, got to his feet and ran, adrenaline surging through him and pumping him up to greater speeds. A mighty roar escaped from her lips as Undyne whirled around to catch Sans disappearing into the dark cave.

Sans gulped, using the glow of his soul shield to find the path ahead. He became very flustered when he heard the whirs of her weapons and the obnoxious clanking of her armor getting closer and closer. Sans gratefully found himself at the other end of the corridor before long and actually had a twinge deep inside him that he could probably get out of here without another round of fighting. This thought proved to be too soon as he felt something energetic whoosh through him and chip his defense, spreading a greater amount of uneven cracks on it. The force of the head on attack made him stumble and faceplant into the ground. Before he could reach his bearings, spears slammed through him, again and again, worsening the pain that had been kept at bay until he heard that sound he had been dreading since the beginning- the protective barrier above his soul breaking into tiny shards all over the place. He rolled over onto his back to come face to face with the evil fish lady towering above him with the biggest smile she had ever given.

She glowered over his exposed soul with pure excitement and casually said "Well then it seems I've bested you, huh? Don't get me wrong, I almost found it fun. But now comes the best part. Watching you die."

She opened her fist for a black spear to come into being. It was pointed directly at the center of Sans' soul. With a feeling of dread, he realized he didn't even have a big enough window of time to scramble backwards and maybe have it miss. This was it, his downfall. The time when his life came to an end and he hadn't even served justice to Chara yet. Undyne truly hadn't been lying in this case when she said she was the strongest monster down here.

Sans lightly touched his brother's scarf at his cervical vertebrae, trying not to tear up from such a bitter, heartbroken end. Undyne's wrist flicked the slightest bit to angle the spear into Sans' bright green soul, but never got to finish this action as something puzzling happened. Surrounding her, in a neat circle, were little white specks with points on either end that looked deadly to the touch. The look of bewilderment and the shocked pain on her face were the last things that Sans saw of her before row after row of the tiny pellets assaulted her, whipping out of thin air one after the other. Sans backed up into a sitting position, witnessing the terrible onslaught that continued without mercy until she was a harmless goopy mess on the floor.

Flowey popped out of the ground on the other side of it panting, like he'd been in a hurry. He opened his mouth to say something, but found his fragile body being thrown into the nearest stalagmite coming up from the dusty ground. He crumpled to the floor in a heap, looking over his uprooted self with a groan to assess the damage. Sans crouched next to him with a menacing blue eye after he safely tucked his now blue soul away.

"so. look what the lesser dog decided to drag in. you've got some nerve to show your face around me after what you pulled in waterfall, bud."

The skeleton was so angry, Flowey could feel it radiate off of him in seething waves. He decided to be an ignorant jerk though, as it was typical Flowey nature.

"Hey, I saved your life, bone bag! The least you could do is thank me!" he weakly snapped.

"thank you? now why would i do that? do you need a refresher course on what you did with those echo flowers? hmm, maybe i should slam your sick little petals against this rock some more in an effort to help you remember." Sans' eyes went dark with malicious thoughts, and he did come off as eerie.

Flowey was silent, then he said something that made Sans blink in disbelief, his pupils returning.

"I-I'm afraid… of Chara…" he noticeably began to tremble and he'd acquired a pained look to his eye that leaked sadness. Sans wasn't letting his guard down around the evil flower just yet though.

"yeah sure, i'll be sure to remember you saying that when you betray me and kill me with those death pellets of yours."

"I'm serious!" Flowey exclaimed with a tinge of helplessness. "I know how skeptical you must be. I don't have a soul after all, how can I feel fear? I don't know how myself to be perfectly honest. But… as soon as I laid eyes on those creatures that they created, I felt something stir and resonate within me. Something that made me feel… odd. Like something was terribly wrong. I brushed it aside like it was nothing. But… I recently went to visit them… and they seemed soulless themselves. It was like they treated me like I was foreign, like we'd never been partners in murder. It made this feeling in me grow bigger, and in this point in time, I've come to the conclusion that it's fear. Chara isn't the same as they once were. Before they let people into their heart, but now… it's like they've distanced themselves."

That did seem rather odd to Sans. But should he really trust his enemy?

"Listen," Flowey continued with his head held low in shame. "I only want my friend back. I care not for this soulless demon who calls themselves Chara. I fear what they can do to me as much as you do. I only did those things with the flowers because I was forced to by Chara's word. After a lot of mulling it over, my final resort was to come to you. As much as I don't want to listen to it, I kept telling myself that you could probably stand up to them better than I could. Although that doesn't mean we're friends," he grimaced at this, "I can help you get to Chara. All that matters now is stopping them. After that, you can try to toss me into a brick wall if you so please."

Sans blinked at this whole speech that Flowey decided to give and looked at him with the best poker face he could muster.

The flower seemed to get second thoughts about that last part, as he suddenly tensed up and hissed at him with a satanic face. "Don't you even think about it!"

Sans gazed off into space with a foggy mist clouding up his eyes in thought. The way Flowey was telling him this seemed pretty… sincere. Sans didn't know how he could tell, but he suspected it was instinct. He also sensed the plant's inner agony that he knew all too well himself. Pushing the thoughts of Papyrus to the back of his mind, he supposed it wouldn't be such a bad thing if Flowey were to accompany him on his arduous quest. Sans promised himself that he'd keep his guard up at all times just in case.

"alright, fine. you can come with me. but get in my way, and you'll be puppy chow for shadow doggo, got it pal?"

Flowey tried to hide how grateful he really was but let slip a smile. "I'm pretty sure you'll have it under control if I try to kill you, idiot."

The two continued their trek to Hotland together in silence, Sans holding his knife out at a battle ready angle just in case, but nothing came to tear him to smiling shreds. The sign that read "Welcome to Hotland" had been switched off, but by who was unknown. When they reached the rocky cliff that overlooked a vast sea of magma, Flowey fidgeted for a bit, looking uncomfortable with the potentially life threatening status of the place. But Sans would do anything but stop for a stupid flower. He ignored Flowey's worrying pause and walked across the bridge towards central Hotland. A whitewashed building shaped weirdly like a cube began to come into view, perched on the far side of the four way intersection. A sign in capital red lettering that read "LAB" was plastered among pipework that stuck out from the outer wall.

Now Flowey came to a total reluctant stop. This was the place where his flower form had been created. The place that held so many… memories. Sans approached the door, very headstrong.

"Uh," Flowey piped up, his voice a note higher than usual. "M-maybe we should leave. The elevator's up there, why don't we just-"

"no."

Sans admitted to himself that he needed a place to rest and that maybe there'd be survivors somewhere. He doubted they'd be in the lab if there were any, but the fact that sleep was impending on his heavy eyes kept nagging his conscience. This would most likely be the safest place right now to rest. He raised a bony hand to slide open the automatic door, but it did so itself to his dismay.

Standing there, handling a bunch of thick books in her arms was the original Dr. Alphys.


	9. 5

Utter shock coursed through the dinosaur monster as soon as her nose almost collided into Sans' hand. Her eyes were so wide at the sight of Sans that he swore they'd pop right out. She began to shake, causing her books to fall from her arms and lay strewn about on the ground and her round glasses to slip several inches down her snout. Alphys backed up, her mouth opening and then snapping shut again, trying to find something to say but couldn't. It honestly looked like she'd have a heart attack any minute now. It was also apparent that she was trying to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs.

Sans stood there in awe. It was really her, the same bright yellow scientist with a jittery personality who was always wringing her hands nervously or fidgeting her feet in place. This was no feat of Chara's, it was actually the real Dr Alphys in the flesh, standing right in front of him! Well, kind of standing. At this rate of how spastic she seemed to be getting, she could have turned to gelatin on the spot.

"alphys?"

"S-Sans…?!"

Sans beamed at her in pure joy. So the tiny part of his mind that remained hopeful had been right all along in an underdog sort of way. He thanked whoever had granted him such a wonderful blessing dearly. This was really the best thing that had happened to him in a long time.

"how are you here?" he couldn't help but ask as curiosity bubbled over inside him. How was Alphys not dead by the hands of the child murderer?! All contact had been severed with her for the longest time, the only mention of her evacuating the Underground coming from Undyne when the fish woman had been trying to stop Frisk from progressing through Waterfall. Not another word had been heard of from the royal scientist from then on.

Flustered, Alphys fiddled with her claws and stared at the floor. She was definitely more jumpy than usual, obviously at the shock of seeing someone she proposed was dead. "I… I was here the whole time… H-Hiding in my lab… I shouldn't have done that…! I should've fought like the rest of you, but I'm such a huge coward and I… uh… well I don't have the best excuse for the things I've done. All I c-can say is s-s-sorry Sans…"

Secretly feeling overjoyed at his amazing discovery of a lost friend, he bent down on one knee with a warm grin spread on his face, similar to what he'd done to a young Papayrus when he'd felt upset about something. Usually it was something pathetic that shouldn't have mattered, but hey, Sans wasn't about to judge his cinnamon bunny of a brother.

"it's okay, alphys. you actually made a smarter choice than what the rest of us did. the kid wasn't about to stop killing anytime soon, so i honestly think that you made the right decision in such a dire situation. sometimes hiding saves ya, kid.c" He wished he could've said the same for himself. He didn't have the guts to hide from a threat that could be possibly neutralized. His way of life was revenge, and lots of it. But it wasn't just that, an underlying motive of saving and protecting what he loved came above all else. This was why he'd had such a strong link with Papyrus.

Alphys was grasping at the sleeves of her lab coat and shuffling in place, on the verge of tears. "No, Sans. There's no accepting what I've done. Everything I've ever done." Suddenly she seemed to remember that Sans was still outside, and stood on her toes to peek past his shoulder. "Quick, come in before one of those infernal things sees us and targets us."

Jerking around somewhat rapidly, she stepped aside, making a space large enough for Sans to pass, but also keeping a close eye on whatever she thought could be lurking outside that was already out to get them. Alphys gulped, trying to dispose of the dreadful thought. Then she asked, "H-how are _you_ still h-here? I thought they'd killed you too!" She still really couldn't believe that Sans was there and talking to her. She was even especially cautious, in case it secretly was a trap.

Sans noticeably tensed as he swept into the dim, gray lab. He then swiped his hand across his forehead in an effort to calm his raging nerves, but it proved ineffective. Now how was he supposed to explain resets to Alphys and how Chara was supposedly born again from Frisk's dying soul?

 _stop it sans,_ he told himself. _let's not jump to the full story right away. tell her something that's not the full truth, but not a lie either. it's for her own good not to know anyway.  
_

All he managed to croak out in his defense was "they almost did kill me, actually. but i managed to get the better of them i guess." His hands jammed into his pockets, he gave a lazy shrug in order to maintain himself. He supposed he'd leave it at that. Alphys, fortunately for him, didn't toss him any follow up questions that pertained to his many battles with Frisk.

She looked distant as she stared around the lab, trying to assess what to do next, Sans figured.

"Uh… May I ask exactly where you're headed?"

"core. got some business to attend to. skeleton business." Sans went out on a limb and speculated that displaying his goofy, laid back nature would be a good move in keeping Alphys relaxed, but at the same time, she looked completely unconvinced. But again, she didn't question Sans' little journey to Asgore's castle.

"I…b-bet you're tired if you came all this way from Snowdin? You can… r-rest here of course before you continue to the Core." Her voice cracked at the word "Core", and she tapped her feet and readjusted her glasses. Now he could see it, she was avoiding looking him in the eye. It was strangely at that moment that an alarm went off in his mind to signal that Flowey was nowhere to be seen, but he kept a straight face nontheless. He'd deal with the plant's suspicious antics later, and he was sure Alphys didn't need him spontaneously freaking out. Right now Alphys had focused him back on the fact that he was extremely tired and needed a lazy nap. He missed those good times where he'd be sleeping at his sentry station in the Snowdin forest waiting for a human to show up. And a human sure showed up, alright. Said human ruined his life.

She beckoned him with a quivering claw and led him through a slide open door into an elevator. When the door opened again, a short hallway was laid out in front of them. Sans stepped out into it, his footsteps echoing around the dead quiet place. There were a few doors on either side, but a nod from Alphys indicated the first one. He turned the brass knob, cold in his fingers, and entered a snug little room with a tiled floor, and a nightstand perched next to a standard bed adorned with a fluffy looking pillow and blankets. A lamp sat precariously on the nightstand, looking about to tip, and Sans guessed it would've looked better with a little color. In fact, the whole room was probably more colorful in reality than what was depicted here by the gloomy world around them.

He admired the place from top to bottom, inspecting how comfy the bed was by sitting on it. It was exceptionally comfortable, the way it sunk under his bones. And this fact was quite something considering he didn't have much weight on him.

Alphys had leaned against the door frame, looking suspiciously like she was trying not to throw up. She was also giving the impression that she forgot her skeletal company was there, as she began cringing and muttering to herself.

"alphys? you okay?"

His voice jolted her out of the trance she was in, and turned her head to him in a glassy stare. "I… I know what your intent is, Sans… B-but… You can't win. It's impossible."

He blankly wondered what she was going on about until an image of Chara snaked its way into his thoughts. Now how had she possibly gleaned that information?

"Sans trust me… You can't win against them…"

He shot her a questioning glare, causing her to make her way next to him on the bed, stumbling as she went. She plunked down with a gulp, and continued, wringing her hands like the typically awkward Dr. Alphys. But this time, the action gave off a grave air.

"Chara has…" She took a deep breath, trying not to stutter. "…Power that you couldn't possibly imagine. I don't know how, but they have determination that's off the charts. The monsters I was supposed to evacuate…? They were attacked a soon as those dark brooding things appeared on my doorstep. At first I was curious where they'd come from- until a Vulkin attacked and killed one of my fugitives. Almost instantly, like they were influenced by a zombie infection, did they become one themselves. I was cowardly. I ran and hid while the rest fell, one by one, until only I was left. I took a sample of their… excess substance… you know, the goo that drips from them… and tested it. I couldn't believe my eyes, but there it was. Raw determination straight from Chara themselves."

Hesitantly, she reached into her coat pocket and retrieved a vile of black glowing liquid that burned with an intense radiation at its core. She ran a claw lightly over the smooth glass, then checked to see if the cork stuck in the top was wedged in tight enough.

"Chara… They've somehow taken so much control over our world that they can even bend the rules. Their powerhouse of determination led to them to…"

Her voice wavered and trailed off like she didn't want to end the sentence. Sans could tell just by her body language that the info was vital, but dangerous to explain at the same time. But he still pressed her for the answer to the million dollar question.

"what did they do alphys? you have to tell me."

Another gulp down her throat. "They absorbed the six human souls that Asgore had locked away. Now they're invincible."

. . . . . .

It was absurd. It was unlikely. It was a sadistic but clever move on Chara's part. Of course they'd use the unimaginable power of a human soul to become god-like! Now Sans really didn't have a chance against them, if he really ever did. At Sans' proclaimed silence after her announcement, Alphys had been quick to jump up and leave the room so he could rest with the promise of food later on. He was alone for an extremely short period however when Flowey miraculously popped up from the floor tiles to greet him with his usual "Howdy!". Sans ignored his offer of a greeting, mumbling to himself about how his future could play out now. Of course this annoyed the flower, but he tried his best effort at not showing it.

"Let me guess. The nerdosaurus gave you hints about Chara's condition?"

Sans' face hardened at this statement, allowing Flowey to understand exactly why he was flustered. He shrugged at such a bitter answer. Well, as much as a flower actually could shrug, anyway.

"Well Smiley Trashbag, as much as I despise the thought of motivating you to beat Chara to a pulp, I'm going to say that your perseverance has gotten you this far. What makes now any different? If Alphys never told you that Chara has the almighty power of the souls, you still would've fought them. You just wouldn't know they were godly until you actually saw them face to face. Just because you know new information doesn't mean you should stop. Let me tell you, it sucks having this world completely controlled by someone else."

Sans was yet again quiet. What Flowey was telling him was absolutely true, and he knew it. Except he didn't want to think about it at the moment. Right now he needed sleep. Laying down in a comfortable position on the bed, he daydreamed again about how he used to take a nap at least 5 times a day, to Papyrus' anger. That had been a great timeline.

Before Flowey could pop back underneath the floor tiles and attend to business elsewhere, Sans gathered the heart to ask him a question. "hey, uh… you gotta know somethin' about this, but… if chara has those otherworldly powers now, then how come they haven't left the underground yet? they have to have the power to destroy the barrier, yet they stay. is there a reason why?"

This made Flowey laugh in a way that suggested Sans was a pathetic fool who knew nothing about anything.

"While I _am_ helping you get to Chara, I have to comment on how much of an idiot you are. You should've figured it out sooner, bone bag! They won't leave because they want the excitement of killing you first!"


	10. A Dozen

Ahhhh for those of you who have been following the story since square one, thank you guys so much for reading it! I'm honored that you like it so much! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been quite bust all this week .u. Also I felt the need to point out that I've been getting a few reviews that don't make much sense or seem kind of... pushy...? I don't know how I'd describe it. But anyway, if your review is kind of "out there" then I'm not going to include it. Like, don't question every detail I write about okay? Just enjoy the story, that's what it's here for. Now if I make a teensy mistake in one chapter that contradicts what I wrote in a previous chapter, then please politely tell me and I'll fix it :3 I'm just a human being, I don't remember every little detail I write about.

As for every chapter title being a number, I just like to keep a common theme with my chapters. and I kind of thought using numbers would be somewhat unique. So without further ado, here is chapter 10!

* * *

Sans woke up to silence. Flowey was gone again, probably doing something mischievous elsewhere. But who was Sans to babysit him every second of the day? He couldn't expect the tiny plant to sit there watching him. Sans could just picture the annoyed boredom on his face if he would have been forced to stay rooted to the spot for several hours while Sans rested.

Almost completely rejuvenated, Sans got to his feet, stretching and smoothing out the creases in his jacket. Sticking his hands in his pockets his typical way, he strolled leisurely to the door and creaked it open to take a peek out into the hallway. It was just as empty and drab looking as when he first arrived. Yawning, the grin plastered to his face faltering a little, he suddenly became interested in whatever food Alphys had sought to bring him. He silently wished she had some stray ketchup sitting in her fridge. A tiny voice inside his skull sighed, wishing he could be this relaxed about life again all the time: wondering when his next meal smothered in condiments at Grillby's was or having trouble choosing the appropriate and most comfortable place to take a nap. That had basically been what his day had consisted of back in the desirable timeline.

Sans took the elevator up to the top floor where he'd entered from, and first decided to root through the fridge. His patience was rewarded when he found a half full plastic bottle on a shelf located on the door. Looking up from his precious find, he discovered that the whole place was more dimly lit than usual. This struck him as a tad bit odd, but this factor didn't stop him from calling out Alphys' name after he pocketed the ketchup and shut the fridge door. He craned his head to a shuffling sound upstairs, and proceeded to the escalator to try and find Alphys. Upon reaching the dimly lit upper floor, he passed a row of bookshelves, lightly swiping his phalanges along their spines. Even at such a faint gesture, dust kicked up from the barely touched books making him cough. Sans finally stopped his coughing fit after a few seconds and blinked at steam rising from a plastic cup perched on a table littered with blueprints. He couldn't help but curiously inspect it.

The top of the cup was sealed with shiny packaging that had a bunch of punctured holes in it to let the steam out and it read in bold letters "Instant Noodles". Underneath the English spelling was a Japanese spelling of the food, and different anime style symbols were littered all over the sides of the cup including a weird looking interpretation of a human girl with cat ears. Sans didn't think twice about claiming the meal after his nonexistent stomach demanded it with a growl. Maybe the notion of the already obtained ketchup wasn't enough for it.

He hungrily clutched the cup of noodles getting ready to tear the plastic film off the top when he paused. A funky noise had drifted over to him from the far side of the room, the sounds louder than the constant drip-drip of the hose machine situated next to the cluttered table.

"alphys? that you buddo? i'm gonna get goin' soon, if that's okay with you-"

"That's not Alphys!"

Sans quickly raised his guard when Flowey's voice echoed off the walls, inlaid with panic. In a flash, the cup of instant noodles was substituted for the knife in the pocket of his fluffy coat, right next to the ketchup. Weird, he couldn't see Flowey but definitely heard him. As if the creature that wasn't Alphys sensed Sans had drawn a knife, it clawed its way forward, limping and dragging its lumbering body across the floor with every step.

It was a Vulkin. And an ugly one at that. Much bigger than an average Vulkin, it had four muscular legs all ending with horrendous looking claws that could probably slice through steel with ease. One of its back legs was limping badly due to a thick stray wire coiled tightly around it, oozing more black goop than the rest of it like makeshift blood. Small but noticeable spikes poked out of the sides of its volcano-like body, some ending in corkscrew points. Its face, with a gaping maw dripping slime, looked almost pained and sad. It released a gutteral cry from deep within its throat that jostled the second floor, causing Sans to clap his hands to his skull to control an oncoming migraine.

Where had it come from? How did it get in? Flustered questions whirled around Sans' head in a desperate attempt to solve how it got past Alphys, especially something this gigantic. He backed up a few steps, gritting his teeth and once again forcing his smile instead of letting it come easily. He brandished his knife at the foul creature, but that action only made it go into the defensive. It leapt at full speed in a wild charge. Its injured leg gave it no disadvantage, that was for sure. Sans had to duck and roll like a helpless sack of potatoes in order to avoid getting squished into a bony pancake. Vulkin _did_ havea few feet on him, and that wasn't exactly something to genuinely smile about, in Sans' case.

While Vulkin slowly dislodged itself from the wall it had plowed into, acting like a confused triceratops, Sans slid down the railing of the escalator back to the bottom floor where the elevator door to lower floors opened and there stood Alphys, her facial features depicting a tornado of panic and sweatiness.

Chest heaving, trying not to hyperventilate, she bit her bottom lip. She seemed to know exactly what was going on when her flustered eyes locked with Sans' sockets. "I… it came from the ceiling…!"

Sans instinctively looked up. A ceiling tile, some patches of it soaked in black sludge, was loose in the ceiling creating a hole to the pipework above and most likely the roof. Well done, Alphys. She really knew how to make a building monster proof, now didn't she? He had to give her some credit at least. How did a lumbering creature with a brain the size of a peanut even work its way to the roof in the first place?

Sans' oncoming anger blew out of him however when he almost got smashed into again by the charging Vulkin. Apparently, it had either rolled stupidly or jumped from the top floor, but either way was too heavy because it crash landed on its side down onto the first level, smashing the tiles underneath it to bits and making Sans and Alphys jump into the air as a result of the mini earthquake.

Good thing this Vulkin was a slow creature that didn't figure things out too fast, because it couldn't get up. Its legs just floundered about trying to reach a foothold. This made for the perfect time for Sans to sprint over and grab Alphys' arm in a near death grip in an effort to get her out of this mess. "come on, alphys. it's been fun playing tag with a killer death machine, but we gotta go."

To Sans' utter shock and bewilderment, Alphys stood her ground and yanked her arm away from him with more force than the awkward and jittery Alphys Sans had always known. Some unseen light glistened in her eyes like fire as she heartily stared at Sans. "No. You go, you need to get to the Core. I'll just weigh you down. Listen, it may be near impossible, but I know you can beat that human. You of all monsters can find a way. It's a sacrifice that must be made, or Vulkin will call more of those things and give you more trouble than you need. I can distract it for you long enough so you can escape."

"alphys-!"

But she was already scurrying over to the opposite side of the lab to the front entrance where Sans had first arrived through, waving her arms like a hooligan to get the Vulkin's attention. She looked ridiculous, but now wasn't the time, he knew. She was right, as unfortunately she would be of no use to Sans if he really was to make it to Chara. He didn't want them to, but his legs locked up powerlessly, like part of him wanted to stay and really fight alongside Alphys. But if he did, he'd be wasting more precious time in getting to his destination and he'd be risking getting killed himself. In every aspect, it was better this way. Damn it, why did his mind have to rationalize things so well?

While the recovered Vulkin now on its feet had Alphys cornered against the wall scraping its claws along the floor to charge and ultimately end her, Flowey was suddenly there next to Sans like he'd been there the whole time and Sans just didn't notice. Thankfully, his yelling snapped Sans out of the trance that was his frightened inner turmoil.

"Come on, bone bag, let's move it! Before that thing comes after us next! I don't fancy being a golden flower salad for a blundering minion of Chara's, thanks!" the tiny plant barked. Sans focused back on reality and rushed in the opposite way, out towards the back entrance of the lab. This was the pathway that led to the rest of the lava filled world known as Hotland. Sans flinched as the sound of the Vulkin colliding with the wall was too loud to ignore.

When outside the lab, Sans scrambled to slide the door shut, and involuntarily fell against it. His knee caps felt like jello, but most terrible of all, he'd just let a friend fall to Chara's clutches. It was brave of Alphys to have a change of heart and to sacrifice herself in order for him to escape unscathed, but he should've at least tried something to rescue her. That would've been more hero-like, right? Although, it was partly because of Flowey's urging that he'd decided to flee. As much as he really wanted to turn back time, he couldn't save Alphys now. And getting dreadfully pissed at a flower wouldn't help his case much either. All that was left for them now was to press on, and unfortunately they'd have to do it the only route possible at this time: traverse Hotland the old fashioned way like Frisk first did.

Silently sitting there though made Sans think about the real reason Alphys did such a thing- she wanted to redeem herself for the "sins" she'd committed. He understood how hard it must've been to keep those… amalgamates were they?… trapped in the depths of her lab without allowing the melded forms to see their families. Sans would never forgive himself either. But she had succeeded in her attempts at redemption, at least in his opinion. She fought valiantly for a good cause and even gave herself up to do so, putting her world and her close friends above herself.

While Sans sat there with clouded eye sockets lost in thought, Flowey growled beside him, his petals bristling. "What do you think you're doing just sitting there and feeling woe for yourself? You know you couldn't have stopped her. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was damn determined, if that makes you feel any better." While it was true that he was trying to give Sans a semi pep talk, his tone was not at all reassuring or friendly. "Come on, move it! We're losing time, idiot!"

Sans thought Flowey was rather lucky, because if he had any emotional energy left, the scrawny plant would've been tossed into a lava pool by now. But instead he stood up and just walked without a word.

The fast paced trek through Hotland was traveled in silence from that moment on, Sans taking the lead and Flowey following closely behind. He was very fidgety, but that was only to be expected from such a hot, burning place. It was kind of funny though whenever he jumped in paranoia at exploding magma spouts bubbling up from beside the path like he was worried the heat would burn his petals right off. Not that Sans would object.

When Sans' mind wasn't wallowing in the fact that he couldn't save Alphys and the dreadful thought of challenging Chara, he had a bit of time to appreciate his surroundings. He'd always secretly thought of the Hotland as beautiful, with the gears turning in unison along the glowing walls and the molten lava rippling below with the fiery colors melting and mixing into each other. Now it looked kind of dull with the gray hues instead of popping color, but the skeleton recalled what it had looked like before this whole mess. Too bad Flowey was too much of a soulless little runt to appreciate it too, but that was his loss.

After trying not to fall over on bunches of speeding conveyor belts and solving numerous puzzles, Flowey finally spoke. "Why would you do that?"

He had a disgusted sneer across his face as he paused to watch Sans open the cup of instant noodles and glob mountains of ketchup on top. Sans blinked at his sour companion and shrugged pretending to be oblivious. "do what?"

Flowey went as far as scrunching up his face and sticking out his tongue to properly show high levels of loathing. He actually looked kind of adorable when he wasn't trying to kill somebody. Of course, if anyone told him that, he'd most likely snap their neck in a heartbeat.

"That! Having that much… red stuff… on a particular food is utterly repulsive. No wonder your're such a distasteful bone bag. Everything you do is weird and gross."

Sans purposefully stumbled aiming to "accidentally" step on Flowey, but the flower was fast, and resurfaced farther away with a furious facial expression. Before he could reprimand the skeleton with a colorful array of choice words, Sans shrugged biting back laughter and casually said, "whoops, i must've slipped. sorry 'bout that."

"The only thing keeping me from tearing you apart right now is the fact that I need you to help me defeat Chara. Otherwise, I'd have tortured you something fierce a long time ago!" Flowey replied with a bitter tone. All Sans could do was mockingly laugh and keep walking.

When the two reached the elevator, Sans stepped inside and attempted to press the button that would take them to the right side of the third floor that would empty them out near the MTT Resort. But regardless of pressing the button multiple times, the elevator remained unmoving.

Sans' heart sunk. "don't tell me it's out of order…"

"What?!" Flowey bellowed, his rage shooting through the roof. "What the heck are we supposed to do now without a working elevator?!"

"calm down, maybe the other ones work." Sans tried the button labeled L3, and the mechanisms whirred to life and began to move the elevator to the far side of the third floor.

"Great… Just great… Now it'll take us even longer to get there!"

Sans gave his travel buddy a stern glare. The stupid weed never stopped complaining did he? Figures, his life was probably handed to him with a silver spoon.

The doors finally cranked open on the left end of the third floor, giving way to a sales counter not too far off and cobwebs strung across the walls and floors like a spider den. Getting out and glancing up at the ceiling, Sans approached the counter eying the giant, perfectly crafted spider web looming above him with an impressive circumference. The light was kind of dim, so he couldn't even see the web in its place gave him unsettling vibes, and that was a fact.

He swiped his hand along the counter and took a peek behind it to a welcome sight. There were bunches of boxes stacked on top of each other full of jugs of delicious, sweet cider. Sans opened the other boxes and beamed at the health items galore. Spider donuts in neat arrays in every box by the dozen! The generous stash of health items would be a great energy giver before the battle with Chara. Sans might have only had one HP, but the donuts weren't just useful for restoring health. Monster goods also had a reputation for motivating one's mindset and giving bursts of energy and speed.

Sans quickly found a pile of napkins and raced to bundle up the gooey treats and shove them in his pockets for later. While he had almost snagged a whole box worth of stuff in his pockets, he suddenly found himself bound with vines from behind, constricting his limbs and wrapping around his face to keep him shut up. He was so tightened up by the army of vines around him that it worked like a makeshift cocoon and prevented any sort of movement.

This was Flowey's doing, no doubt. That weed! He'd betrayed Sans when his guard was down and now he was going to take care of Sans himself much to Chara's glee. He expected something like this, betrayal so Chara wouldn't have to get their hands dirty. Furious anger boiled deep in the skeleton and he seriously considered summoning sharp bone attacks to cut the vines loose when Flowey popped up beside his skull. His face was not one of revenge and excitement for catching the enemy off guard, but one that read "keep quiet or we're dead."

Flowey's vines slackened and released Sans, but immediately after pointed silently upwards to the web. Sans' skull whirled up, wanting a pretty damn good reason as to why Flowey would assault him like this, otherwise the little plant really would get tossed into a magma pool.

…Aaaaaand there it was. Flowey had wanted Sans to be quiet so as not to wake the spider-cupcake hybrid napping peacefully in the center of the web above them.


	11. 8

Ech this one was challenging to write, that's for sure . And it also turned out longer than I wanted it to be. But it is what it is, right? Anyway, thank you all deeply again for reading, and enjoy this next chapter my dears!

* * *

At this angle underneath the gigantic web, it was possible to see the entirety of it. It was actually much broader and more impressive than it had looked when they first sauntered in. And what's a big web without a big spider to go in it?

Sans stumbled to his feet in shock, trying desperately not to make a peep. Now he understood- he hadn't seen it before near the elevator because of the poor light and the angle of which the shadows had covered the web's middle. But now that he got a closer look, Sans silently examined the snoozing threat.

It was obviously a pretty big spider, about as broad as a tank, with eight legs all thick at the joints and ending in a thin point that each locked onto a web strand to keep it stable while hanging upside down. Its body literally was a mutant cupcake; it being made of a moist looking black cake with a sickly shade of purple as the swirl of the frosting. If Sans squinted, he could make out tiny multicolored sprinkles lodged in the frosting that were in a cartoonish shape of a spider. He couldn't see the creature's face, but he supposed that was a good thing. Its maw was probably hideously ugly.

Shakily gripping the insides of his jacket pocket, Sans padded quietly down the platform, catching the next puzzle into view. If they were lucky, they could sneak past the monster and solve the puzzles before it woke up and ate them as an appetizer.

Just as Sans approached the arrow puzzle and began mentally figuring it out, there was a loud crashing noise of boxes spilling over onto the floor, and Sans watched in horror as clusters of cider jugs rolled and bounced over the floor. The spider cupcake snorted in its sleep and slowly stirred awake. Sans whipped around to give Flowey an angry piece of his mind for making such a racket, but the flower was nowhere near the counter. In fact, he was frozen in fear right next to Sans, the backs of his petals faced in the direction of the bake sale.

 _BAM._

Something huge and unpleasant sounding came crashing to the floor on all eight of its disgusting legs.

"Run! Go! GO!" Flowey shrieked.

Not even daring to look back, Sans didn't have to be told twice as he stepped onto the hot air vent that vaulted a blast so powerful it tossed him to the floating platform in front of it. Sans sailed down, his jacket billowing up behind him, and landed on his feet. He turned around just in time to get hit full force with something unusually sticky that knocked the wind clean out of him. He uncontrollably spun off the platform into the dark abyss below, his arm wrapped up in a glue-like substance. Giving a yell of surprise, he swung underneath the network of platforms like Tarzan at full speed. If not for the sticky thing on his arm, he would've met an undesirable fate at the bottom of the pit.

Thankfully, he was going so fast that he came close enough to absentmindedly reach out and grab the edge of one of the floating platforms. With one functional arm, he yanked himself up onto it, kneeling behind a hot air vent to inspect the stickiness latched onto his arm. It was a tangle of spider web, just as he predicted, and he had to pull with all his might to get it to let go. After successfully doing so, he froze to stare up at the cupcake monster that was only meters from his position, staring at Sans back with truthfully a bit of curiosity in its eyes. As long as he sat still, the creature in front of him sat still too.

Sans had been right, its face was not a pleasant thing to look at. The mountain of frosting that perched on top of the cake had opened up into two voids of darkness that served as eyes and a jagged mouth with pointed teeth. Saliva dripped in long strings off of said teeth, pooling on the platform floor underneath it.

After what seemed like hours (but was only minutes) of sizing each other up, Sans came to the conclusion that if he wanted to reach the gigantic door that led to the next part of Hotland, the only way was forward where the beast sat in wait for him. The other air vents around him would only go in directions he didn't wish to be. It was then that his mind pricked back to Flowey again before he hatched a quick plan and sprung forward, pouncing onto the vent. In mere seconds, he was airborne, Sans silently hoping that he'd get good enough air to fly right over the spider. He curled up into a tight ball to help this factor, making him look like he was cannon balling into a pool. As soon as Sans moved, so did the cupcake. From the depths of its throat, it shot spurt after spurt of gooey globs of web, all barely missing their mark as Sans somersaulted overhead. He just happened to miss the angry monster himself by eight centimeters at the most.

And to make things even more perfect for Sans, he unraveled himself just before touching down on the next platform, reached into his pocket, and hurled his knife at full speed. Even if you were to look closely, you wouldn't be able to comprehend what just happened. His weapon connected with the hybrid's eye, making it screech in surprise and agony as it stumbled backwards. It lost its footing on the edge of the platform and fell, getting wedged between two of the floating ledges as its legs floundered uncontrollably. Once again, agility had been on Sans' side, all of this happening before he even touched down.

Panting, Sans hurriedly made his way to the giant doors that led onwards. They were sealed tight. Too tight to cross through. He tried banging on them as a last resort, but the material still stood strong. And it wasn't much longer that his enemy would be stuck. It would figure a way out sooner or later. Wait, didn't he have those battleship puzzles to solve before he could progress and open the obstacle before him? He didn't have time to backtrack and do those! Not now! But at this point, it seemed like the only move.

As if by magic the doors had sensed his distress, they rumbled to life and slowly pulled themselves open. Confused, Sans glanced around to see Flowey approaching,looking pretty pleased with himself. Taking a last look back at the spider creature hissing and sputtering at them, Sans passed through the doors at an inhumane rate, just to get away from that thing. The sudden realization that he had lost his weapon hit him. It had to be left jammed in that thing's eye; like hell if he was going back for it now. His feelings must've shown on his face because Flowey studied him for a long moment and whipped out something from underneath the ground. Sans abruptly stopped to take it from his outstretched vine.

"how did you…?! i had this thing wedged in that monster's frosting to the hilt! how'd you get it loose?"

"While you were trying to fiddle with those doors, I managed to retrieve it for you. How else do you expect to defend yourself? And by the way, I solved the puzzles that opened said doors for you. Seriously, what would an idiot like you do without me? You'd lose your skull if it wasn't attached to your neck."

Sans was too delighted at having his weapon back to pay attention to Flowey's sneer and negative sounding tone. He pocketed it again after brushing off the dirt, but closed his phalanges around the hilt for good measure.

As they came around the corner to see a tiny door in the side of a purple wall, Sans suddenly grew uncomfortable at seeing stray web strands hanging off of the ceiling.

"i hope we don't run into anything else anytime soon…i could really use a break."

"Of course someone as lazy as you would say that. You used to take breaks all day! Suck it up and keep walking, bone bag."

Ha, that was true. Sans was the laziest skeleton he had ever known. He had intended to keep it that way before Frisk turned to the path of genocide.

Upon entering the doorway, it was like a whole different world altogether. Cobwebs hung from every corner, not a wall was un-webbed. Sticky spots even covered the floor. Sans took special care to avoid those as he went along. He couldn't help but intentionally show disgust and unease on his features, his smile contorting into something more grossed out. Even Flowey was falling behind surveying what to do about the sticky goop that could catch his vines in place like flypaper. Sans thought they'd be home free on the other side of the room in no time, until he saw the incredibly large patch of stickiness in the middle of the floor that could not be avoided. When Flowey spotted it, his face screwed up into a horrified, soulless stare that showed no mercy.

"after you," Sans told him with a casual shrug.

"Me?! Are you insane?! That stuff will tear my leaves to shreds! It'll get between my petals! I might be a flower without a soul, but I need to keep up an image, thank you."

"wow that's funny, considering i've never seen you with leaves."

To prove a point, and ultimately to prove Sans wrong, his stem sprouted a set of leaves that Flowey wiggled in front of him like hands.

"point taken, ungrateful weed."

So the traveling duo wouldn't be wasting any more time than necessary, Sans marched on without another complaint. It really wasn't bad walking through the stuff except for the repulsive squelching the web beneath him made when he walked. His slippers kept getting caught in tangles of goop as well. When his foot got sucked under for the eight millionth time, frustrating him, a shrill laugh bounced off the walls in an amused tone. Sans looked at Flowey with a cold hard stare.

The flower scoffed, almost offended. "It wasn't me! You know how I laugh, and it certainly doesn't sound that revolting and high pitched. I naturally sound better than a scrawny spider."

Sans grew puzzled at Flowey's last statement before the third presence in the room made herself known. She was a spider of course, with six arms and two legs. She was very prim looking, dressed up nicely in a pair of neatly ironed pantaloons and a large bow fixed up near her neck. What made her less appealing was how she was inky black and menacing- another one of Chara's reincarnated minions.

She sat on a string of web above, overlooking the apparently funny scene while swinging lightly back and forth. She had her legs crossed in a fancy manner and was pouring herself a cup of tea into a teacup. At least, Sans thought it was tea until a bunch of spiders fell out of the spout. The spider girl looked from Sans to Flowey, then back at Sans again.

"Oh dear, you seem to be trapped in my web. I'm deeply sorry for that dearie, you know how spiders can be," she gave a soft laugh, covering her mouth with a hand. Maybe, Sans pondered, she was nicer than everybody else down here. Maybe she wouldn't try to ruthlessly maim him.

"My name is Muffet. I'm ever so delighted to have you visit me. I don't get too many visitors to my web you see, everyone here is deathly afraid of spiders," Muffet grew distant for a second like she was sorry for them. "But now back to your predicament. It seems you've wandered into one of my webs."

"uh… yeah. can you maybe get me loose, friend?" Sans could feel his foot sinking each minute and it wasn't the best sensation in the world.

"Oh dear… You see I would, but… I've promised to my pet that any lost soul who wanders into my web is theirs to keep. My pet gets frightfully hungry too you know."

Sans swore he felt his soul collapse inside his ribcage when he caught sight of the spider cupcake hybrid crawling up next to Muffet and licking its teeth in excitement. In excitement for its _snack._ Sans was meant to be an appetizer after all, now wasn't he?

Muffet shrugged, trying to look as sorry as could be as she swung back and forth on her rope of web. "I apologize again dearie, but my pet has to eat. Go ahead my dear, dinner is served, ahuhuhu."

The cupcake eagerly climbed down the web to get to its food. Flowey was off to the side looking like he was internally panicking. Then he said, "I think you're on your own for this."

Gee, what a big help.

With a familiar pop, Sans found his navy blue soul manifested outside of his body. He had to think of something quick or he'd be spider food. Muffet's pet was dangerously close, and it lifted its lethal teeth to sink ithem into Sans. At the last minute, Sans swerved out of the way as best he could and the cupcake instead found its teeth buried into the web that had prevented escape. Instantly freed, as the sharp teeth had severed the sticky substance, Sans flailed his limbs at anything he could get his hands on which happened to be a horizontally placed web strand that was parallel with the floor. His instincts told him to climb, and so he did.

Soul pounding, he went up, noticing the weird feature of how every web above him was parallel to the first in distinct intervals like a ladder. Almost like… Muffet had expected this outcome. Did her pet cut him loose on purpose?

The spider girl was suddenly above him, balancing perfectly on a single hair-thin rope. All five of her bright eyes were fixated on her prey in a disapproving manner.

"Oh dear, why so blue?" She nodded to Sans' soul that cast a faint glowing bright blue against his white bones. "I think purple would suit you much better, don't you?" Miraculously bending down and still keeping her balance, she tipped her teapot until a slimy purple liquid spilled out. It ran down the nexus of thin strands, branching out onto every web of the room and staining them the same color. Sans had paused in his climbing escapade to observe the web he was gripping onto suddenly turn purple. And when it did, all of the blue leaked out of his soul and was replaced with a vibrant shade of violet. Alarmed at the new upgrade, sans was spurred upward.

Muffet looked satisfied with his new soul color. "Oh yes dearie, that really does suit you better!" She raised her voice and when she spoke, it pinged off every wall. "In fact, why don't we give our skeletal friend a big welcome to our humble abode!"

All at once to Sans' disgust, the room roared to life and at first seemed like the walls themselves were moving. But when he looked closer, he found that everything moving was a spider. They were everywhere all at once. Climbing down webs, hanging from the ceiling, even coming up to Muffet so she could pat them with affection like they were puppies. One even held up a tiny sign nearby that read, "Up next:" and had a tiny picture of a spider on it.

The confrontation began all too quickly as spiders rained down upon Sans from all directions, but he knew that this wouldn't stop until Muffet was terminated. It surely was an interesting sort of battle, what with spiders hopping down the rungs of the web ladder at him. Sans managed to dodge their attempts as they sailed past him, but it was extremely difficult to do this and climb at the same time. He was moving like a snail. How was he supposed to reach Muffet like this? It didn't help that she giggled at him whenever he slipped up.

"Let's make this more interesting," she called down to him. The spider with the sign flipped it around to show a drawing of Muffet's pet. That couldn't be good. And this theory proved correct when the gigantic spider hybrid crawled out of the shadows below him.

If Sans could go even more pale than he was now, you'd have thought him to be a ghost.

"shitshitshitshitshit-" he wasn't sure how but adrenaline coursed through him and he was instantly moving up the network of webbing faster than before, all the while his soul already feeling as though it was about to shatter. To make matters worse, the spiders started attacking again from above and even started throwing croissants at him that doubled back and tried hitting him again. Sans eventually resorted to smacking the spiders aside in order get a boost, but the snapping jaws of the threat below crept closer and closer all the while.

The outline of Muffet swinging above him came more into focus and he felt that he could actually do it when a spider doughnut nearly hit him square in the face. The spider that threw it snickered at him, and Sans slapped it aside with rage.

 _Spider doughnut._

If this version of Muffet was anything like her original, then-!

It was a risky move, but Sans stopped in his tracks, clinging to the web for dear life considering how high he had come. He felt around in the deep ravine of his pockets and fished out a lightly glazed sweet snack, holding it up proudly for Muffet to see.

She almost tumbled off of her perch from leaning over so far in surprise to gawk at it. Even her pet stopped behind Sans and sniffed the air, picking up the scent of a delectable spider doughnut. The entire room had slowed to a stop, every spider gone still and silent to await their master's response.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that one of our renowned treats featured at our spider bake sale? Ahuhuhuhu! My eyes don't seem to be playing tricks on me after all! You must support us spiders after all dearie! Anyone who is a fan of our spider goodies is a friend of mine. I'm sorry for the slight misunderstanding. I cannot allow you perish if you support us so much. My pet, please bring our valued guest back down to the ground if you please."

Muffet's pet did as it was told and grabbed a hold of Sans with a snake-like tongue, prying him off of the web he was situated on. It plopped him on its back and turned around to head back to the floor. Sans meanwhile was still trying to comprehend what just took place, but at least he didn't get eaten or murdered by a villainous spider.

The cupcake set Sans down on his feet next to a perplexed Flowey who had looked fidgety and nervous before he had caught sight of the unusual scene.

Muffet waved happily like everything in the world was simply okay. Sans hadn't seen when she'd gotten there, but she was now atop her pet's back, legs crossed in the fanciest of ways. "Come back anytime dear, and I'll let you play with my pet again for no additional charge at all. Have a good day dearie, ahuhuhuhu."

She, along with the spider cupcake, dissipated into the shadows with a laugh that had something deeper embedded within it, although Sans couldn't make out what it was. The skeleton then turned to Flowey and tried to keep from laughing as the flower tried desperately to avoid a stray spider that clambered past his stem. He hissed at it, flaring his petals to look bigger, and it ran faster.

Flowey's murderous glare jolted to Sans and he bared his fangs. "What are you looking at, smiley trash bag?!"

"Nothing," Sans shrugged. "Nothing at all."

"You better not be," Flowey snapped. "And you'd better prepare yourself, because we're almost to the Core."


	12. XXVIII

I know I know, yell at me for not updating lately. My only defense is how busy and exhausted I've been TvT I'm only planning on having a few more chapters left, so hang tight guys! I hope the finale will leave you all starstruck! *cough*ihaven'tthoughtofityet*cough*

Also, this chapter will require the use of your powerful imagination! Go nuts guys!

* * *

Well, there it was. The MTT Resort. This place held mixed feelings and multiple memories for Sans. He fondly remembered in one timeline- it might've been the first one that Frisk was in- he decided to take the kid out to lunch here. Sans had taken to telling the story about how he'd tell jokes to Toriel on the other side of the Ruins door. And Frisk looked like they'd actually been submerged in his tale. Well, as much they could've been with that blank look they always carried around on their features. He remembered scaring the shit out of them like it was yesterday:

" _now, i hate making promises. and this woman, i don't even know her name. but… someone who sincerely likes bad jokes…has an integrity you can't say 'no' to."_

" _do you get what i'm saying? that promise i made to her… do you know what would've happened if she hadn't said anything?…buddy."_

" _. . . you'd be dead where you stand."_

That event had definitely made Frisk more wary of him from then on. And then a few timelines later, they killed everyone despite Sans' threat if they got out of line. But at least in the end they got what they deserved. And by that, he meant their death, not that their soul had unleashed an even more dangerous being whose intentions weren't pure whatsoever. So maybe it hadn't been Frisk's fault… they had merely been used as a puppet in order to achieve the ultimate goal. And Chara had definitely reached that goal. But still, Frisk had complied with their demands. The only thing that stood in the way of more power was Sans himself and maybe Flowey, but the flower was only cooperating out of fear for Chara's newfound powers. Would Flowey betray him in the end? It seemed very likely, but the plant did seem rather uneasy when he talked about Chara. Either way, Sans would be ready for whatever came next.

Sans approached the glass doors of the MTT Resort, the once blue bricks a pale gray and looking a little more rundown. The plants around the front entrance looked lifeless and wilted too, the leaves shriveled up and dry. The inside was even more of a train wreck. The floor was covered in spots of mud and dirt like a stampede of monsters had been through here, and soft elevator music was blaring out of a speaker up near the ceiling. It used to be a much faster, happier tune, but Sans suspected that the track may have been broken because it was playing a much slower version of the usual song at a lower key. The Mettaton fountain that would spew its liquid contents onto the floor was now only burbling a small trickle of water that splashed on the concrete rim of the fountain. As Sans passed it, he could make out thin cracks everywhere on its surface too.

"this place really falls apart without anyone looking after it, huh?"

Flowey huffed beside him. "That's a blessing. Thank goodness there's no sign of that blundering robot who only cares about how many viewers get to admire his legs."

Sans hated to agree with Flowey, but he knew it was true. He never particularly liked Mettaton, probably because Papyrus had always been enthusiastically infatuated with the pop star. Flowey was right, the robot with a soul gave the impression that the only thing he cared about was himself and his ratings.

Sans bypassed the fountain, getting a clear view of the glass double doors that led to the Core- or what remained of them. All that was left was the framework connected to the hinges, the glass shattered underfoot into razor-edged shards. Taped to the wall nearby was an unsettling sight. It was a poster with a picture of Mettaton on it being bathed in a spotlight while a crowd whistled and cheered behind him. The crowd consisted of monsters from every area, whether it be Woshuas, Madjicks, or Froggits. The tape suspending it to the wall looked fresh, slightly agitating the duo.

"introducing the live performance of mettaton the movie xxviii tonight," Sans read the bold lettering at the bottom of the poster. "guess there's a show tonight?"

"Tonight?! As in soon- tonight?!"

"relax, this was probably put here a few days ago, before frisk came." Sans reassured Flowey. But to be honest, Sans barely believed it himself. He had a feeling that this appeared on the wall just today, which meant he'd have to be alert from here on.

He stepped through the door where the pain of glass would've been. Flowey fidgeted in place, pursing his mouth in an unsure way, but soon followed his companion. Sans crossed the bridge to the Core, savoring the light wind that blew against his skull. He was still unsure of how a breeze could blow through here, but he wasn't about to outright question it. It felt nice. Taking a deep breath, he entered the Core at last.

A long hallway greeted him. No lasers, no diverging paths, not even a single enemy. The place was deserted and simple looking. Sans knew that this place was made of interchangeable parts that could swap at any time, but when had anyone found the time to rearrange it lately?

"Something isn't right here, why is this like this?" This was the first time Sans had heard Flowey speak softly without a hint of venom in his tone.

Sans squinted down the long corridor. It was far too long to see the end, which meant it was impossible to see a threat down there if it existed. "well we're not going to find out just standing here, now are we stem face?"

Sans proceeded down the length of the Core. After Flowey swallowed his shock and arising anger, he tailed the skeleton, coming up closely behind him. When he surfaced from the floor, he caught sight of another Mettaton poster on the wall.

"Nothing good can come of this…" He grumbled under his breath.

It seemed like hours of endless walking with the same boring scenery around them until they reached a bridge that stretched over a foggy abyss that endlessly gaped below. Steam hissed up in geysers and broken pipes dumped their contents, losing them to the misty terrain. Pausing to only survey the surroundings, Sans pressed forward getting a sight of the elevator that could potentially take him straight to the castle. He eagerly sped forward, the grin on his face widening.

"look at that! it's the end of the core! wasn't that bad, now was it bud-…?"

The roaring sounds of cheering monsters floated through the air.

Flowey raised his stem higher to listen. "Where in the name of Asgore is that dreadful noise coming from?"

In unison, they glanced to their side to a big arched doorway whose frame was decorated by bright neon lights, one of the other few things in this world that had maintained color. Almost like it wanted to draw their attention. Instincts drawing him forward, Sans curiously stepped through. The reaction was immediate. The monsters voices echoing throughout the room became hushed and a thick iron door snapped shut behind Sans, severing him from the elevator and Flowey. He whipped around to bang on the door to see if it would budge.

"flowey?"

No answer. Well, there was no way but forward, he supposed. He turned again, facing the wide darkness in front of him. He reached out to grab at anything, but nothing touched him but air. It was no use, it was too pitch dark to see anything. Then he hatched an idea. Sans' eye sockets went dark for a moment before he summoned his magic eye that cast an eerie blue glow on the ground in front of him. The soft light didn't reach very far, but after a few more steps, he caught sight of the outline of a box-like structure that made him stop in his tracks.

"Welcome darling," a mechanical voice with no emotion murmured. "To the MTT show!"

Sans regular pupils returned to try to process the scene that suddenly came to life around him. White spotlights outlined a large circular platform. Several multicolored lights shone onto a crowd that must've contained every monster in the Underground, all goopy black and arranged in a fashion around the platform, similar to that of a stadium. The crazed and eager hollers of everyone in the audience were all that were flowing through the skeleton's mind. Some were clapping, Sans noticed, and he even saw a few that were looking at him with disgusted looks like they wanted him dead, a rowdy looking Chilldrake sitting up near the top in particular. And there, directly across from where Sans was standing, was the box form of Mettaton, black metal exterior glinting in the light and hand clasped around a microphone. He was waving to some of the monsters and even blew kisses at some of them. It reminded Sans of a teenager's night club gone too insane.

The music and the audience died down enough to let Mettaton speak the intro to his show. "We've been expecting you, darling," he told Sans who just stood there dumbfounded. "Now, everyone here knows that I am a robot solely for entertainment purposes. But due to demands of a power higher than myself, I have no choice but to be used to be rid of one monster, and one monster alone. Give it up for Sans the skeleton, everybody!"

Sans suddenly found himself being pelted with a variety of boos and negative comments.

"As you all have probably gained information of, Mettaton the Movie XXVIII was supposed to come out soon on DVD and be shown on every channel in the Underground. But alas! My former self was hopelessly murdered by a child of great strength. Fortunately for every poor soul here, I have been reborn to deliver entertainment once more thanks to our master. It was then I decided that the show must go on darlings. Mettaton the Movie XXVIII must still be released, just in a different form. By the end of tonight's live premiere, I will become victorious and it will make our master very proud! This is the final frontier for you, Sans darling! Again I welcome you, to the exclusive episode, Mettaton the Movie XXVIII!"

The crowd started their rallying cries again in excitement for what was to come. They seriously needed to stop, they were starting to give Sans a dreadful headache. That was when he noticed his soul appear, flip itself upside down, and turn an awfully bright shade of canary yellow. It hurt just to look at it, so Sans looked up. An even worse sight befell him.

The wall behind Mettaton had opened up into a gigantic ratings board, and the numbers were skyrocketing. Mettaton was also striking well-timed poses to a low beat that had started to play when Sans wasn't paying attention. What was going on here, he still didn't entirely know. He ended up creeping backwards and shielding his eyes when a bright light enveloped Mettaton's body on his last pose. When the light disappeared, an entirely different robot was standing where the old one had been- Mettaton Neo.

"let's dance…darling."

The new form of Mettaton discarded his microphone just as several square shaped holes opened up in random tiles on the floor, big enough to stand on. In fact, the ground underneath both Sans and Mettaton suddenly gave way and he thought he'd go plummeting through a trap door when he felt slick steel underneath his slippers. It was also hard to ignore the fact that he was rising into the air.

This was the battlefield? It looked rather cliché for a battle against the pop star robot. Artificial Mettatons, all wielding glamorous looking umbrellas, were floating in mid air, Neo standing prim and proper on one of them, puffing up his chest in pride and stretching his magnificent wings much to the crowd's delight. Meanwhile, the music was not getting quieter. Much the opposite as it started a dramatic buildup. Neo had his hand on his hips and was swaying sassily to it, even humming to the familiar song. Without warning and a malicious glint from Neo's eye, the umbrella-holding Mettaton decoys waved their arms in an enchanting fashion; hot pink hearts embroidered with capital M's soared through the air all aimed at one destination: Sans' soul. He narrowly ducked the glitzy attack, losing his balance on the slippery metal and teetering on the edge. The only thing Sans could do was flail, hoping it would do some good. If he fell from this height, he'd surely have a bad time. Neo snickered when the weight of Sans' bones dragged him down, right off the platform. Luckily for the poor monster, the handle of the umbrella was there for him to grab onto. He swung there, trying to support himself while the monsters watching laughed and jeered.

Neo shook his head disapprovingly. "Tsk tsk tsk, dear. You have no dancing spirit whatsoever. And unfortunately for you, that is the only way to persevere through this battle."

Wait…What? Was he seriously telling Sans that the only way he was going to win was to… dance…? Nope. Nuh-uh. Not going to happen. Dancing was strictly against Sans' code, for one thing he was terrible at it and another thing he was always too lazy to. It had never appealed to him at all in his life. He'd pulled himself back up to standing on the Mettaton platform's head, but just managed to avoid another deadly array of hearts. This time he almost fell backwards, but caught himself last moment. If he'd taken that tumble, there'd be nothing to grab onto. Then where would he be?

Er, maybe he could dance just this one time. Instead of standing rigid to prepare for enemy attacks like he'd originally planned, he relaxed his bones to loosen them and took a deep breath.

"Oh, look at you getting all worked up over a dance battle," Neo cooed. "You'd better be ready darling because it only gets harder from here."

But Sans wasn't listening. He was trying to soothe himself, get into the groove of the music. A deep voice inside of him told him it wouldn't work, that he was too nervous. That's when the bombs came, seemingly being tossed from every angle in every which way. To avoid them, Sans tried a well timed slide to the left as much as he could. He wished he had more floor space to move. His funky dodge proved to be effective as a bomb flew over his shoulder to his right. He slid right, another one missed. Sans now began to believe he might actually pull this off. A jump here. A shimmy there. A pretty cool combo that actually made some of the monsters in the audience blink with surprise. After every bomb was smoothly dodged with a cool amount of grace on Sans' part, Neo actually looked slightly impressed.

"Hmm, very good dear. Didn't think you had it in you," he praised with that metallic voice of his. "And your heart looks gorgeous in that color, I must say! How about I show you mine?"

An inky black heart dripping with grime appeared before Neo, and he raised his arms in pride earning "oohs" and "ahs" from everybody. To Sans' surprise, lightning bolts began cascading off of it casting the outline of it in a white glow. Sans had to move frantically using several different moves in unison in a fast paced beat. One hit, and it was all over.

He'd never realized that he had this talent however. Well placed stomps, shakes of his whole body, and waving arms were all correctly timed with the music and some of the crowd egged him on. His smile grew broad as he sunk into the melody, not even paying attention to Neo's onslaught any more. Since when did he enjoy this? Who cared, this was great!

Sans snapped back to reality when he heard a bunch of monsters yell "Use your heart!". He stopped his vigorous dancing to curiously inspect his soul. It was still turned upside down and was thumping to the base of the song. Wanting to see what would happen, he willed it to do something, anything if he was lucky. Because he sure wasn't going to beat Mettaton Neo just be dodging.

As an immediate reaction, a single laser fired a shot into the sky where the tip of his soul was pointing. Sans' eyes trailed up to follow it, but it was already lost in the darkness above. He grinned coldly at Neo and pointed his soul in the pop star's direction. Meanwhile for him, he was getting into a harmonious dancing routine himself and must've totally forgotten about the competition. Sans fired several shots to catch him off guard, but a cluster of boxy shields descended onto Neo's soul, deflecting the hits right back at the attacker. Sans ducked backwards to avoid getting torched by his own lasers. To be honest, he felt like he was a part of a slow motion James Bond scene.

"Nice try dearie!" Neo was totally enthused. "But you'll have to try a tad harder than that if you want to land a hit on me."

More lightning bolts. More rapid dance-dodging for Sans. He could feel the beads of sweat already starting to drip down his skull. Even he got tired, and he would soon with all this moving so fast. He had to think of something, but the answer suddenly dawned on him when he found himself doing a handstand with his legs spread wide apart.

"hey buddy!" He called to Neo as the robot glanced up at him, a smirk lining his features. "i bet you can't hit me this next turn. you haven't been able to since this so-called battle started. i don't think you even know what you're doin'"

Neo scoffed. "How dare you! My dancing skill far surpasses your own by a mile. See what happens when you try to taunt the magnificent Mettaton!"

It was just as Sans was hoping for. The barricade blocking Neo's soul from oncoming fire separated and whirred forward to strike Sans. With a skillful push from his hands, he started "breaking it down" on the floor, going faster and faster due to its slickness. His soul pumped out laser after laser, a yellow array of light brightening the room in flashes. And those destructive forces went everywhere. Hitting the crowd, turning them into ash, bouncing off the floating Mettatons, pinging on the walls. One found its way to Neo's soul, blowing him back off his platform. He turned to dusty ash before he hit the ground.

Sans, still going strong, began to unfurl himself to see the crowd fleeing so as not to get shot themselves. Sans stayed put breathing hard until every single one was out of sight. He began to relax, thinking he was safe from harm's way until the artificial floating Mettatons around him began falling from the sky and shattering on the ground. His was o exception as it gained speed toward the floor. Panicking, Sans jumped when he close enough to the ground, impulsively covering his head from falling shrapnel.

Then everything went eerily quiet. Not a sound was heard except for the breaths of the skeleton. He began wheezing and sputtering from landing in a weird substance when he jumped, but realized it was Mettaton's dust when he got up. He coughed hard to rid his skull of the dry substance, quickly brushing it off his clothes in disgust. He surveyed the area and found a source of light on the far side of the room. He began to approach it, then paused.

Surging all of his magical energy through his body in a compressed form, he teleported to his wanted destination. A great thing to see; his magic had made a successful full recovery. Now he could battle Chara with an advantage. His breath hitched at the thought of Chara. They were the final boss. Nothing else stood between them.

Sans looked up and caught sight of the dull castle walls before him. He was standing right in front of the entrance to the throne room. A thought at the back of his skull tried to tell him something, but he ignored it.

He went in. The once gold flowers were black and the birds were no longer singing. More dead silence.

Sans crossed the threshold into the next room, but was greeted by a dark void, an abyss of nothing as far as the eye could see. He squinted to get some sort of bearing but could see nothing. For a second he stood there wondering where Chara was or what would come next. Maybe he should stock up on more spider donuts back at Hotland. He hesitantly turned his head back around, but the door had disappeared on him. The warning thoughts that had tried getting his attention before came back all too fast, screaming at him in a mix of fear and nerves that could only make him come to one conclusion: something was wrong, terribly wrong. He had to get out of here! His soul began thudding heavily in his chest, demanding an escape to its cage of bones.

Before Sans could reach into his jacket to grab a hold of his knife, he froze at a rough scraping along the floor to his left, he looked over just in time to see a red hooked object retreat into the darkness, leaving a deep slash in the floor. Something big opened its jaws, Sans couldn't see it, but he could tell the noise of a tongue dripping saliva and teeth clacking together when he heard it.

Then to his horror, a deep gutteral laugh met him. It was like nothing Sans had ever heard, millions of different voices echoing and overlapping one another at the same time to speak the same thing.

"You idiot."


	13. Billions

Hello everyone! I'd like to say I deeply appreciate all your enthusiasm for this story! I love all your comments, they're greatly appreciated! I also appreciate the constructive criticism as well from a guest of mine, it has inspired some ideas for later events .u. Undermined I think it was? Well, a shout out to them anyway! I hope this satisfies your taste buds guys, you all have been so supportive ^w^

Without further ado, the show must go on darlings!

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It was like nothing Sans had ever seen before. A gigantic T.V screen with a morbid smile and blood-red, evil looking eyes fixed the highly alarmed skeleton with a hungry glare that longed to tear him apart. It scraped a single sharp red claw along the floor delicately and rested its main "head" on its other free palm. Its eyes narrowed, mixed with a sneer.

"Well well well," there it was again, the millions of interlaced voices that all cried out at once to create one voice that throbbed in the poor monster's head. "If it isn't my best friend."

Sans couldn't help but scrunch up his face in bewilderment at the greeting. "flowey?"

The thing before Sans laughed again, everything moving along its body repulsively as it bobbed up and down with laughter.

"You're such a fool. 'Help me Sans, Chara has grown too powerful!' 'Sans, I think I'm afraid…' 'Sans, I don't know what my best friend has become anymore!'" The poison and mockery was evident in Flowey's tone that time. "Give me a break. _I'm soulless._ I can't feel _anything,_ let alone be frightened. I'm glad you fell for it though. I had to jump through hoops to come up with the perfect thing to say when I 'confessed my frightened feelings' to you," he yawned, his eyes growing half-lidded. "Believe me, I'm far from the sappy speech-making type."

Sans began mentally piecing Flowey's plan together. "it was all a ploy then. you told me that you wanted chara gone when in reality you were working with them the entire time."

Flowey chuckled, drawing light circles in the floor with a claw. "Now you catch on fast, don't you? I still can't believe you trusted me after all that time you spent loathing me. All that precious hate wasted! Just to go back on what you lived up to and be backstabbed anyway. You really are the stupidest monster in the Underground. It's a wonder how you were the only one to survive."

"you saved my life from undyne to gain my trust. but at the same time, you were the one who somehow spilled the cider jugs on the floor back at muffet's to get her pet's attention."

"They're called vines, dumbass," Flowey jeered. "Useful for popping up from the ground at the most perfect of times without being seen, and apparently useful for trapping idiots like you in place while droning on about worthless garbage that creates diversions."

Without Sans noticing until now, thorny vines had crept up his ankles holding him in place and preventing escape from terrible dangers that could occur in the future. This troubled him deeply, as Flowey was now able to do what he pleased with him. And this new form of his was obviously a force to be reckoned with based on its repulsive appearance that simply radiated power. Sans even tried squirming and yanking his legs free, but the thorns only sunk in deeper and the vines ensnared him quicker causing him to wince. Maybe if he kept struggling, the vines would pull loose somehow. He began to lightly tug at the vines. He'd have to keep Flowey talking in order for it to work.

Through a strained voice, he just managed to choke out the words, "and why do you look like that…?"

"Do you really think I'd help anyone out without getting a valuable cut in return? Chara may be my partner, but that doesn't mean I didn't expect something decent for helping them. The deal was that I bring you to them, unscathed but keeping you thinking you were in danger. How we both enjoyed the pathetic little adventures you went through! But Chara knew you were capable of defeating all of them, even your brother. They were all just warm-up rounds. Chara is the real threat you should be worried about. After all, their immense amount of determination and power over the timeline has broken all rules of the Underground. Thus they were able to resurrect those pitiful enemies and absorb the power of the human souls. They can bend the rules at will now. You can't escape their control, no matter how hard you struggle. You'll die against them, again and again and again!" He smiled broadly at the thought of the destruction of Sans. "But now back to the question at hand. Why am I like this? Meet my omega form, a being of infinite power. What did I get in return for Chara's little favor do you ask? **Soul power.** And the best part is, I don't even have to have a physical soul to keep this power within me."

So the six human souls were still with Chara, power just halved and fed into Flowey? Sans wondered if it would be easier to defeat Chara now. Or worse, if it would be possible to even defeat the enemy at hand. And by now, the situation looked bleak. The vines that had grabbed onto Sans' ankles had doubled in size and were firmly bound around him up to his arms, pinning them to his sides. Well those were now rendered useless.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to watch you die," Omega Flowey hissed. "But patience is rewarded I suppose."

Knives.

Billions of knives levitating in midair everywhere Sans could see, and they were all pointed at him. One was severely close to the back of his skull. If he leaned back even the slightest bit, he could feel it prod at the smooth bone.

Omega Flowey yawned as if there was really nothing involved in killing somebody. "Let's make this quick, shall we? Don't worry, I'll only try to make it painless."

Sans shuddered at the thought of being impaled by a billion knives. And worst of all, he actually _was_ powerless to stop it. The vines slithering up his jacket proved to be too gripping to struggle against. This was his terrible fate, his humiliating end. Sans suddenly thought of pacifist Frisk. The kid would always have multiple options when it came to a fight. It almost made Sans chuckle when he remembered how they would flirt with Papyrus while he tried capturing them. But what options did Sans have? He quickly relayed everything he could do in his mind:

Check Stall

Talk Struggle

Challenge

FIGHT ACT ITEM MERCY

There was something he hadn't tried yet, but it was a mystery as to if it would work. He cleared his nonexistent throat, fixing Flowey in a cold stare.

"flowey, i challenge you to a fight."

Matching Flowey's obvious shock was the clattering of every knife falling to the floor and melting into nothing. With wide eyes and an interested glance, he took note of Sans' determination. "You? Fight me? That's it, you must've gone crazy unless you're just desperate to live! Whatever floats your boat, skeleton. I tried to give you a death that didn't involve so much pain, but if you desire this course of events then so be it. Don't blame me when you're writhing on the floor with blood pouring out of you and a knife lodged in your skull while you're slowly dying."

The vines retracted off of their host, setting Sans free and dumping him on the ground. He lay in a crumpled heap for a moment to catch his breath, then stood up on wobbly legs. Nervous was an understatement in this situation. He'd be lucky if he made it halfway through the battle, although on the other hand he had no clue what to expect.

Omega Flowey snapped his claws like he'd done it a billion times, and Sans' soul was pulled from his chest on cue. It faltered in the air and quivered at the sight of its new enemy. Indeed, it was evident Omega Flowey would be one hell of a boss battle.

Omega Flowey paused, all six eyes trained on Sans simultaneously, waiting for him to draw his weapon. Never breaking eye contact with Flowey's main face, Sans reached into a pocket and grabbed onto the hilt of the knife, drawing it out at a slow pace so as not to accidentally tear his jacket. Like an impulsive move, Sans even reached up with his other hand to feel the fabric of Papyrus' scarf wrapped snugly around his neck. It was a wonder how he suddenly remembered it since he'd forgotten its presence all this time. But the thought of his loving brother invigorated him. It filled him with DETERMINATION.

Flowey's mouth twisted up into a crooked smile, revealing slightly yellowed teeth while his supposed cactus arms rustled with excitement and anticipation. "Prepare yourself Sans," his volume started as a murmur and grew louder as he spoke. "Because you've just thrust yourself into a bad dream. **And you're never waking up."**

Sans' determination was snuffed out at once, like a candle in a harrowing blizzard. Thick vines, plumes of fire, sharp white ninja stars, bombs that exploded on contact. It kept coming and coming, never letting up, never letting Sans have a break. He was forced to take each hit head on, unable to dodge in time. Every bone in his body screamed with agony, he shuddered against every hit, a spark in his mind wondering when Flowey would just end it, end his hard suffering.

" **You're pathetic. You're weak. You're a stubborn fool who never had any chance in this world."**

Sans' fingers loosened themselves from the handle of the blade, falling to the floor with a hollow noise that spoke of failure to protect this world. In a few short minutes, Sans was on all fours pleading to himself to get his strength back.

" **I know that you seek death. You should just admit that I am stronger than you will ever be. You should have never challenged me, you pitiful idiot."**

How was this possible? He only had one HP, he should've died long ago. Omega Flowey sported an unsettling and evil grin, halting all of his attacks to give Sans time to look above him at his HP bar. It was still at one, still stuck at full health somehow. Sans suspected it was due to the green glow that enveloped it. Omega Flowey had frozen it, made it so that Sans could never die but could still feel the brunt of the attacks.

" **Give up already. You cannot win this battle."**

"no." Something spoke from within Sans, something that wished to keep him alive. He thought for a second. But wouldn't it just be easier to end it now? He wouldn't hurt anymore, that was for sure. So what was it that wanted him to live?

Omega Flowey was taken aback. "N… _No?_ "

It was determination, the will to keep going. Not only that, but it was the will to protect this world and all that Sans had ever known from a potential threat that could take it all away. His determination had never left him, he only thought he'd lost it.

To Flowey's horror, Sans forced himself up, miraculously shattering the green essence around his HP bar. While his legs were still weak from the impact of the previous bombardment, he was still able to stand, although it was a mystery to him how he managed. He wiped away a bit of grime that had accumulated on his cheek with the end of his jacket and scowled at Omega Flowey with eyes devoid of kindness.

"let's make this a fair fight, shall we?"

 _Flowey's defense dropped to zero!_

Omega Flowey flexed his claws into the ground and grit his teeth. "How did you-?!"

But Sans was already charging at him, filled with pure determination. Along the way, he bent to pick up the knife that he had discarded, pointing the tip dangerously in Flowey's direction. He was fast, Flowey had to admit. But he assured himself that speed would not win this battle. He still had another tactic up his sleeve.

An alarm sounded, forcing Sans to skid to a stop in order to clap his hands to his skull. Flowey's screen flashed a bright red, displaying the word "warning" in capital block letters. The room went dark, the only light source being Omega Flowey's T.V. set shining off of every pointed metallic object that suddenly appeared and targeted Sans.

But a few knives weren't going to douse his determination so easily. He swerved around every cutting edge in a graceful limbo similar to how he took on Mettaton. He edged closer and closer to the enemy, much to Flowey's dismay. And it was surely making him extremely uncomfortable.

"No! You're supposed to die, you ungrateful idiot!" Omega Flowey's face morphed into a sadistic expression, garbling its words through hooked fangs. He sent a barrage of several knives that were sent at Sans all at once. There, that should stop him.

A bit panicked at first, Sans quickly regained himself, reminding him of how this world needed him. Determination seemed to take over his entire being when he swatted the horde of weapons aside like they were simply annoying bugs. Sans narrowed his eyes, his left pupil billowing a light blue imbued with the everlasting energy of determination.

Omega Flowey clawed at the ground with a weird wheezing noise like somebody was physically choking him. He was losing his composure and he knew it. "NO!Nonononono-"

Desperate, he resorted back to throwing out attack after attack in shaky intervals: Knives, giant shoes and hands that aimed to crush Sans' bones beneath them, words that told stories of evil and darkness, a gun that bore bullets that could punch through thick iron, frying pans that tossed destructive fire in all directions. They were all useless efforts that frustrated the flower to no end. How was Sans so strong that every power that the almighty Omega Flowey possessed barely did any damage?! This was unheard of, a conspiracy at the very least!

 _Maybe he can actually beat me._

"ENOUGH!" The gigantic pair of jaws beneath his screen opened its mouth, giving way to a pulsating throat and tongue. Its eyes sparked with soul power as it generated a highly impressive beam that could reduce virtually anything to a pile of ash or rubble. Sans was as good as dead.

However, with a swipe of his palm, he was abruptly standing atop the skull of a Gaster Blaster that unhooked its own jaws to loose a beam just as strong. The two beams met in the middle, fighting over who would prevail. Omega Flowey squeezed his eyes shut and dug his claws into the ground to keep from being blown off guard. This couldn't be the end, he had come too far to lose at this point in time! He felt the need to look up, so he did. A terrible sight befell him. There was Sans hovering above him and he looked to be _on fire._ He was surrounded in a vivid blue light and his eye was flaring as bright as it had ever been.

The skeleton shot him a winning smile and waved casually, his other hand stuck in his coat pocket. "yo buddy," he said in a low voice, but loud enough to hear over the still dueling beams. "you need to know when to quit." His hand withdrew from his pocket brandishing the knife, and he threw it at such an inhumane speed, Omega Flowey was unable to utter a single word. All he could do was open his mouth to plead before the knife pierced the glass of his T.V, making it shatter into billions of pieces.

As for the rest of him, his body glitched and swayed like a video game that crashed. The most disturbing sight was the one of how the flesh underneath the once intact screen began to bubble and melt into a puddle on the floor. Pipes broke loose, the televsion started smoking and catching fire, flesh turned to goopy puddles… it was a gruesome thing to witness.

As Sans' determination began to fade, he touched back down on the floor next to his bewildered Gaster Blaster who panted, trying to regain lost energy. Sans patted it on the nose to soothe it, which it happily returned with an affectionate purr before disappearing.

He looked over the brooding mess with disgust. Had he actually done it? He had; he had actually beaten the royal power that was Omega Flowey! His victorious emotion was short-lived however when the mechanisms within the T.V spurred to life and exploded without warning. His heart sunk just before he was vaulted backwards, landing on the ground with a crunch before rolling into a tiny ball to protect himself from the blast of smoke and shrapnel.

It seemed to be hours before he deemed it safe to get up, when in reality it couldn't have been more than two minutes. Sans got to his feet, stretching his aching bones. He checked to see if anything was broken, but luckily nothing was. The air was still heavy with smoke, but not so much so he couldn't see. He squinted his eye sockets, the pinpricks of light within them spotting a lifeless mass several yards away on the floor among a ragged patch of grass. He warily approached it, guard still up in case it tried anything.

Flowey. The poor thing looked so overworked that Sans almost felt bad, but he knew better. Petals torn, face scratched, head barely dwindling off the stem… he deserved it as punishment for the stunt he pulled. Upon closer inspection, the tiny creature was wiped out, clearly unconscious from the catastrophic events that took place.

Sans looked further down to catch a glimpse of his own soul. It was in amazing condition, beating in steady intervals and glowing a brighter, shinier blue than normal. Sans even felt as great as his soul suggested. He felt he could take on anything, let alone Chara or Omega Flowey.

At least, that's what he thought before he watched in dread as his soul split in two and shattered to pieces.


	14. Infinite

Hello again my good readers. This will be a challenging thing to write from this point on, I can say right now. I've been mulling over how to wrap this all up on a unique note that will captivate the reader and keep you on the brink of excitement. I didn't have much time to fit everything I wanted in this chapter, so I've decided to split it into parts.

And just a warning, this chapter also may be a bit more graphic than the others, so skip to the next paragraph if it just so happens that you can't read it. Your well being is important to me, my dears TvT

Also, I know Chara is supposed to be ambiguous, but I personally believe that they are a girl .u. I use "they" in the story so as not to piss people off (because I know it will to at least one person), but yup, Chara looks female to me. So I have to ask, what do you guys think? Even Frisk, what gender do you think they are? All opinions are welcome here!

* * *

 _Reset._

Burned.

 _Reset._

Impaled.

 _Reset._

Crushed.

 _Reset._

Electrocuted.

 _Reset._

Sans was on the ground trying not to have a heart attack by the last reset. Death was by far the most terrifying feeling Sans had ever been exposed to. It was weird to die over and over again just to come back and die again in an infinite loop. At least, the sensation only felt infinite. Now he understood how Frisk had felt when the two of them had fought.

Chara was standing before his helpless form with a displeased look on their face, wielding their own knife. Their cracked soul thumped in front of their chest, casting them in an eerie red glow. Their voice was monotone and they spoke slow and steady as if they were afraid to jumble their words, showing absolutely no emotion. "You should've listened to the flower's warnings, my friend."

"i am not your friend." Sans spat.

This remark earned the action of Chara flicking their wrist. This sent him flying backwards, landing so hard on the ground he could hear the sickening snap of a rib breaking, maybe two. He held his side in immense pain, unable to move any more than that. Did the little bastard actually paralyze him?

"You should have listened," they stated again. "that pathetic excuse for a plant actually said something wise for once. He told you that you would die. He said you couldn't beat me. What chance do you have a against a god?"

Sans' misery grew ten fold when he felt an unseen force smash his skull into tiny shards, his magic escaping his bones and granting him death.

 _Reset._

He was back on his feet, but not for long. His knees gave way and he was on the ground for the umpteenth time.

"Your determination is powerless now if you haven't noticed." they commented. Knowing full well that he wasn't about to strike back anytime soon through his fit of coughing, they made their way over to the broken form of Flowey, their steps echoing through the abyss-like room. As if Chara forced him up themselves, Flowey suddenly spurred to life hacking just as bad as Sans.

"Ch-Chara!" he exclaimed in a weak voice, happy to see his companion. "Am I ever glad-"

"Hush." They replied coldly. This made Flowey wilt a little. "While it was fun to see you take on your lifelong enemy, I suppose we've spent enough time fooling around."

Flowey looked like someone had just stepped on him. "W-what…? You thought it was… amusing that I fought Sans…? Wait-"

Chara fixed him in their red-eyed stare as they shifted their knife from hand to hand. "Your thoughts prove to be correct. Not only does the philosophy 'It's kill or be killed' apply to you, but most everything you've told the skeleton applies to you too. Betrayal is just another tactic of the game I'm afraid. When something is of no use to me anymore, I dispose of it as such."

Flowey began to tremble as he put it all together; the reality that he was liable to be used just as much as Sans. When he'd said himself that every enemy Sans had faced "were all just warm-up rounds", he'd thought that excluded himself, whuch it clearly didn't, according to Chara. Which meant…

"You were expecting me to lose? I was just another one of your brainless puppets?!"

Chara gave out a short melodic laugh. "Surprised are you? You may have been a partner as a monster, but without a soul… I regret to say that you're weak. I have no use for your belittling powers any longer now that I have the enemy right where I want him."

Sans could tell that Flowey was becoming desperate to get on Chara's good side again. His composure was dwindling every second, like actually _was_ fearful of them. "Now wait a second, if you were to give me a physical soul, I could-"

"You have used all of your chances," Chara simply told him. And with that, to even Sans' astonishment, Chara crushed his frail body under the weight of their boot. The nauseating crunch of fracturing petals and stem that followed suit could make anyone sick to their stomachs. Sans was utterly still while this occurred. He couldn't help but begin to wince himself as he saw Chara grind their heel into the grass for good measure. They lifted their foot to reveal a mutilated yellow mess that only half resembled what Flowey had once been, smooshed without mercy into the dirt. But Chara wasn't done. They reached down to pry an innocent petal off of their shoe that was somehow still intact and tore it to tiny pieces. They smirked at the flower's remains as if disappointed that the fun of killing him was over.

 _Dead!_ Flowey was most certainly dead. The betrayer had been betrayed, what a twist. The little pain in the ass that had been a thorn in Sans' side for a long time now was gone just like that. If his emotions weren't frazzled and all over the place, would Sans have felt bad? It was hard to tell. Another question arose: Being soulless, had Flowey even felt the excruciating hurt that accompanied dying?

Chara locked eyes with the tattered Sans, he had taken to kneeling on his knees, arms wrapped around his rib cage in a futile attempt to steady himself and maybe regain some of his strength. Thank Asgore that the last reset had reversed the effects of his broken ribs, or it would have been much worse. He could still feel an uncomfortable pain in them, but it wasn't too unbearable.

"Now where were we?"

There was that gentle sounding _tap_ _tap_ of Chara's steps colliding on the floor as they approached Sans. He wanted to move, lash out, or do something! But his bones just wouldn't listen. All he could do was stare, his smile faltering and now bordering a displeased frown. Chara looked back at him with their blood red eyes surrounded by a ring of black. They looked ten times more dreadful up close, like the worst of horror movies.

"Who knew that one of the bravest monsters in the Underground would be afraid of a mere child?" They balled their hand into a fist and Sans could feel every single bone in his body come apart molecule by molecule and be reduced to dust.

* * *

To say everything ached would be an understatement. Even after each and every reset, Sans still felt like a fighter jet had just landed on him. Reset was supposed to mean renewal; a backtrack in time to when the hurt and despair had never happened. But Chara's reverse resets- as Sans soon came to call them- carried the burden of battle over with him into the next timeline making it just as hard to fight as it did before. Even with his advanced levels of agility, he could not hope to land a single hit on Chara.

And every death was gruesome, oh so gruesome! The worst still stuck in his mind vividly. His bones had been eaten away at by way of acid. He'd try not to yell with panic and terror as he was forced to watch the dreadful substance eat away at him to the point where it exposed the marrow and made it foam and bubble before it disintegrated. Chara even snickered with glee at such a reaction. The little bastard was taking complete joy in every demise of Sans.

 _Reset._

And there he'd be, standing in that exact spot again traumatized beyond recognition with light blue tears still leaking from his eye sockets. Thank god none of his friends were here to watch his suffering or he'd be reduced to the lowest levels of shame and regret. Flowey had it easy with the simple death he had received. And when he thought of Papyrus… he couldn't even stand to bring up an image of his brother in his mind or he'd completely break down and it'd cause more tears to fall. Throughout it all Chara simply observed, almost never changing emotion except to occasionally make a satisfied smile. But it was evident that they were enjoying Sans' everlasting punishments. To deepen the wound, they even took his weapon and snapped it into pieces as easily as one would crush a plastic spoon. Being defenseless meant that the going would get even harder.

Sans knew that if his friends were here, they'd tell him to keep going because they'd have faith in his abilities. This thought was the only thing that kept him lashing out at Chara, but with little success.

Chara unfortunately raided his mind with their otherworldly power and took a hold of this to use to their advantage.

"The only thing that divides you and insanity is your precious friends," They remarked in that monotone voice. "I pity you."

Sans was rooted to the spot with gritted teeth. If he had the voice for it, he'd be announcing his opinions real fast. Targeting his friends and brother like that was crossing the line. But of course Chara had to worsen it.

Everybody he'd ever known was suddenly surrounding him in a circle all frozen in time like they were posing for a picture. They didn't look like themselves, only being defined as outlines with one bright neon color. It reminded Sans of a wire frame during video game production or a one-color sketch on a black background, like their designs had not quite been finished yet.

Chara held back and paused so a puzzled Sans could catch a glimpse of everyone around him. His soul wanted to break at the sight of them. Toriel, defined with a bright shade of purple, had her face blocked from view by a series of red X's that scribbled out her once jovial expression. In fact, everyone was like this. Undyne, drawn in red; Alphys who was a canary yellow; even Papyrus. Sans couldn't look at the orange framework of Papyrus for more than a few seconds without intense emotion bubbling up inside him.

Chara silently made their way around the ring of monsters, stopping at one in particular who's face was not adorned with red. Sans stared at the happy looking blue version of himself with wide eyes before Chara drew an X on its skull with their finger and plunged their knife into its chest where a soul would be.


End file.
